


Scars (Secrets and lies)

by Princessbetty18



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Betty and jughead solves the case, Drug Addiction, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, I suck at tagging, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, are they dead, i went there, its not what you think, not your normal riverdale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:14:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25042993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princessbetty18/pseuds/Princessbetty18
Summary: Sunset Meadows has long been servicing the town of Riverdale and its surrounding areas for over 30 years. It’s a rehabilitation place. For the young and old, rich and the poor. Doesn’t matter. They help anyone who’s in need. Dr Evernever is the leading physician. He’s won numerous awards around the nation for his work with addiction with young people and is one of the leading doctors in Mental health. That’s what Forsythe has read anyway. He’s not too sure if this place is legit. He’s not sure of anything anymore.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Comments: 7
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

He sits by the window, watching as the rain pours down outside. Wishing he could go out and feel it on his skin. He sighed. He’s not allowed outside. He’s not allowed to do much of anything.

He’s starting to forget how long he’s been here. One month, two months, he’s not sure, even though the memory seems so fresh. Like it happened just yesterday.

He hates this place so much. He feels like it’s slowly killing him.

He watches as people come and people go. He’s tried to escape before and he’s failed, so he’s given up and he watches now, Watches everything around him hoping one day he finds something that will help. To help him get out of this awful place. But until then he stays quiet and to himself.

He doesn’t want to grab anyone’s attention. So he sticks with the paper and pen that’s in his lap. Trying to write the next Great American Novel. It’s about murder in a small town. Cliche, he knows. But he still writes it. It comes to him in his dreams so when he’s in the common area it gives him something to do.

Forsythe is 17 years old and he’s been at the Sunset Meadows recovery center for 3 months.

“Forsythe, it’s time for your Medicine” a nurse said, walking over to him with a small cup of his pills and some applesauce.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Now after you eat your applesauce make sure you don’t leave this area for an hour. You know the drill” she said as she watched him take the pills and swallow them.

“Of course.” He said, rolling his eyes.

“Open your mouth please.” she said.

Which he does and she looks to make sure he swallows them.

He knows the drill all too well. He’s not allowed to be by himself after he eats. He’s at Sunset Meadows because he’s an insomniac and according to them he also suffers from an eating disorder. They’ve told him numerous times what his condition is called but he’s chosen to ignore it. Because he’s just not sure. Sometimes he wonders if it would be easier to just accept the lie. Which he’s certain it is. Then deal with the consequences of the truth. Which scares him more than the lies. They have him on sleep medication, which only seems to work sometimes and they watch him eat and he’s not allowed to be in the restroom alone. He thinks they’re crazy, but they also say he’s in denial.

In the course of the time he’s been here, he has seen a lot of people come through here. He doesn’t try to make friends with any of them. Everyone leaves but him. So why try? As he sits in his corner of the room watching, he sees them. They are being brought in by a handful of nurses.

The first girl, a fiery looking redhead is screaming and kicking. Trying her hardest to get out of their grasp. “Let go of me," she yelled as she kicked a nurse in the stomach. She’s then stuck with a needle and she passes out rather quickly. To him she looked like someone you don’t want to mess with.

Next, there is a raven haired woman. With the shiniest pearls around her neck. She doesn’t look like she takes shit from anyone yet she’s here. “You will be sorry. If you lay one hand on me," she said. A nurse comes towards her “don’t” she said even louder. The nurse then quickly backed off. She seemed scared by this. Hmm, interesting he thought.

Then a red haired man is being drugged by the nurses. He’s huge and by the looks of it, they already gave him drugs.

Last but not least, a blonde haired woman. She was beautiful. The most beautiful person he had ever laid eyes on and something seemed so eerily familiar about her. She didn’t say anything though. It looks to him like she was just observing. Like him watching her surroundings. She sees him and smiles.

“It looks like you’re going to have new friends, Forsythe” the nurse watching him said.

He grinned.

There’s the hope he’s been looking for.

~

Sunset Meadows has long been servicing the town of Riverdale and its surrounding areas for over 30 years. It’s a rehabilitation place. For the young and old, rich and the poor. Doesn’t matter. They help anyone who’s in need. Dr Evernever is the leading physician. He’s won numerous awards around the nation for his work with addiction with young people and is one of the leading doctors in Mental health. That’s what Forsythe has read anyway. He’s not too sure if this place is legit. He’s not sure of anything anymore.

He walks through the halls of the building and everything he sees is white. White walls, white doors, white floors, all the furniture is white and they are dressed in all white. No color of any kind anywhere. He sighed.

“Where you going Forsythe, you know you're not allowed to roam the halls.” Nurse Miller said.

He stares at her and says nothing, just turns around and starts walking the other way.

“Don’t forget It’s almost group time. You can meet the others, show them the ropes and maybe make some friends. It can’t be any fun being so lonely” Nurse Miller chuckled.

Ugh, this ass, he thought. But he wouldn’t mind seeing the blonde again. She made his body feel all warm and tingly and doesn’t even know her name.

As he walks down the hall, a memory of sorts pops into his head. He’s sitting on a beach next to the blonde. She’s laying her head on his shoulders. They sit across from the raven haired women and the red haired man. They all seem to be having a good time. He’s brought back to reality when he runs into the door. What the hell? He’s shaking his head as he reaches the Sun room and he goes inside.

The others are already sitting in the chairs that are placed in a circle. The chairs are placed that way so they can see each other. He sits down while the others look at him. He smiles.

Something about this isn’t right.

Dr. Evernever walks in and closes the door behind him. “Hello,” he said.

No one said anything

“For the ones that don’t know me. I’m Dr. Evernever.” He said “this place is a safe place. To discuss your feelings. Maybe you can learn from others as well” he adds.

Forsythe scoffed.

“What was that?” Dr. Evernever asked.

“Nothing.” He mumbled under his voice.

“Well since you're not new here why don’t you go first” the doctor said.

_**3 months earlier** _   
_Forsythe had just walked into his home. He’s coming from Pops. He sees his mother._

_“Hi Mom,” he said._

_She looks upset. He sees someone he doesn’t recognize sitting at the table._

_“Who’s that?” he asked._

_“I can’t do this anymore Forsythe. I’m worried about you.” She said._

_“Huh?” He said._

_“You don’t sleep ever. You hide in the bathroom and I hear noises like you’re constantly getting sick.” She said._

_“Not sure what you’re talking about” he said unsure what she’s implying. Yes he doesn’t sleep. But he’s quite confused about the latter._

_“Just stop with the lies, Forsythe. I’m just so, so tired of it all. I have your sister to worry about also. I can’t spend all my time and energy on you” she said._

_“Mom. What are you saying?” He asked._

_“This is Dr. Evernever. He’s here to help you” she said._

_He turns to leave and he feels a prick on his neck and it goes black._

_“It’s for the best, son” she said as she kissed him on the cheek. The nurses and the doctor took him outside to a white van._

“Forsythe?” Dr Evernever said.

He is lost in thought, he never had this memory before. It confuses him. He hears his name and he looks up and sees the Doctor talking to him. “Oh. I’m sorry. I’m Forsythe. I’m 17. Been here umm... 2 or 3 months, or something like that” he said.

“And?” The doctor asked.

He wants him to say what he's in for. He really hates this place.“I’m an insomniac and....” he sighed “I suffer from bulimia” he adds.

Still to this day he’s not sure he’s ever been bulimic. He’s just saying what they want to hear.  
The others just look at him. They look scared.

Over the course of the last few months Forsythe has learned that in this place. Everyone is always asking, How are you? How do you feel? What will make it better? The group circle. It's a safe place, they say. Forsythe looks around. Everyone has their own secrets that they hide.

The blonde who’s name is still unknown, stares deeply at him. He wants to know more about her. He just has to stay patient.

“Thank you, Forsythe.” Dr Evernever said.

Forsythe turns and looks at the raven haired woman next. The one who looks out of place. She comes from money he can tell. She knows it but she doesn’t want to flaunt it at the moment.

She looks around. She’s been new before but doesn’t like it. Everyone’s always asking questions that she doesn’t like to answer. She knows she’s next. She can see it in the doctor's eyes.

“Veronica.” He said “You’re next.” He said.

Of course, she thought. She rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to.” She said.

_**2 weeks ago** _   
_Veronica is an heiress. She's 17 years old and abides by no rules but her own. She’s living a dream life. She goes to party after party, meets a new man or woman every night and takes them back to her place. She’s addicted. Addicted to the touch. To the feel of another person. She wants to be wanted and the only way she knows how is giving up her body._

_She’s at a party and lays her eyes on the man she wants to take home. She walks over to him._

_“Want to get out of here?” she asked him._

_“Anything for you, sexy” the man said and they left._

_She walks into her apartment later to her parents waiting for her._

_“Mija. Where have you been?” her father asked._

_“It’s Friday night. I was out with my friends.” she said._

_“Who’s that?” he asked._

_“That’s George. He needed a place to stay for the night.” She spoke to him as she noticed a group of people dressed all in white. “What’s going on daddy? Who are they?” She asked._

_“George, I'm afraid you need to leave,” he said to him. He looked at Veronica “My darling daughter. Your mother and I are worried. We thought this was just some rebellious stage you were going through.” He said._

_She’s in shock and is frozen. She can’t move._

_“You have a problem and I’m afraid that if you continue on the path you’re on. Only bad things will happen. Your body is not meant for this. Mija.” He said._

_“Daddy” She said as she started to cry._

_She looked at her mother who didn’t have any emotion at all. She was cold to her. Always has and probably always will._

_He walked up to her and hugged her._

_“These lovely people are here to escort you to Sunset Meadows. That’s the place that is going to help you.” He said._

_“Okay” She said. “I’m sorry” she whispers._

_“Mija. I love you” He said._

_A nurse comes over to Veronica. “I’ll go with you. But you will not touch me” she said “ever” she adds A person who was addicted to the touch no longer wants to be touched._

_Her mother walked out of the room. She had had enough._

_“Don’t worry about your mother. You will be okay," he said._

_She nods and leaves the penthouse with the people in white._

She looked up when she heard her name.“Veronica?” Doctor Evernever said. “Please. It will help. If you can share it with the group. No one will judge you here.” He said.

She looks around at the other 4 in the group. She’s feeling a sense of deja vu. Not sure what to make of it though.

She sighed. “Hi. I’m Veronica. I’m 17.” She said, laughing. “Um.... I guess. The reason I’m here is” she’s looking around nervously.

“Go on. You can do it” the doctor said, urging her on.

“I have an addiction to sex. I guess anyway” she said.

“You don’t think that’s a problem?” He asked.

“No. I don’t” she said rolling her eyes.

The others just look at her. She notices there is no judgment in their eyes. They all have their own secrets.

Most scars don’t hurt. Some scars are numb. Some scars rid you of the capacity to feel anything ever again.

Forsythe wonders if this group of people can make him feel. He’s been numb for months and he’s desperate to find some sort of connection. He senses one in each of the four people in front of him. But why does he feel like this? It's odd. Really odd. He thought.

He looks at Veronica and he sees a fighter in her. She’s more than meets the eye. He can tell She’s holding back. I guess he was holding back too. He wonders who’s next. He looks at the blonde beauty. She smiles at him. His heart flutters.

“Please remember this is a safe place. No one judges you here. So it’s okay to be open.” Doctor Evernever said.

He looked at the red headed man next.

“Archibald. It’s your turn. Let us know about you” the doctor asked.

Archibald looked around and he’s angry. He doesn’t want to be here. He’s been planning his escape since he’s got here.

_**1 month ago.** _   
_He’s in the boxing ring. Fighting is his release. No, wait. Fighting is a way to express himself._

_He sees a man come in the door and he stops and goes over to him._

_“Sup," Archibald said._

_“I have what you need. $250 for all of it.” The man said._

_“Good... very good.” He said as he went through the bag. An assortment of goodies. He pulled money out of his bag and handed it to the man who shortly left after._

_He grabbed something and moments later he was in a state of euphoria._

_A little while later, after he’s showered and dressed, he walks into his house. His father is waiting for him_

_“Hey dad. What’s up” he asked._

_“Son. Can I see your bag?” his father asked._

_“It’s just dirty clothes,” he said._

_He finally notices the group of people all dressed in white on the other side of the room._

_“Seriously. What’s going on.” He asked as he’s getting angrier._

_“Bag. Now” his father said, raising his voice. His father walked over to him and took the bag from him. Archibald gulped. He knew he was caught. He sighed as his father went through the bag. “I’m disappointed in you son” he said shaking his head. “You're going to get the help you need. These people are here for you. To help you” His father said._

_Archibald looks like he’s about to bolt. He feels a pinch on his neck and he goes down._

_“It’s for the best son,” he said. “Please take care of him. He’s the only thing I have left in this world.” he adds._

_“Of course” a man said as they took him away._

He looks when he hears his name. “Archibald? Are you ready to let us know about you?” Doctor EverNever asked.

He looked around and saw all eyes on him and it made him nervous. But he feels he needs to do this. It’s his only way out of this room today.

“I’m Archibald. I’m also 17” he sighed as he continued to look at them. “I’m a drug addict.” He finally said out loud. He’s shaking. He’s still going through detox and feels sick. He sees Veronica look at him and smiles. Something in his stomach stirs and he doesn’t think it’s withdrawal. What is it about that woman?" he asked himself.

What’s worse? Scars hidden on the outside or Scars hidden on the inside?

Can time heal all wounds? Only time will tell I guess.

Forsythe looks at the man who just spoke. He sees anger written all over his face and yet he sees fear. Is fear the cause of his anger? Or anger the cause of his fear? He sees Veronica looking at Archibald with sorrow. The blonde woman still looks at him. Who is she? Will she be next?

“Thank you Archibald.” Dr EverNever said “I bet it feels better to get it off your chest.” He adds with a little smirk.

Archibald proceeds to let off a small growl.

The doctor turned and looked at the red haired women. Forsythe frowned. He’s going to have to wait a little longer.

“Cheryl. Tell us about yourself” he asked.

“How about no. You already know about me. You tell them.” She said as she looked away from them all.

_**2 weeks ago** _   
_Cheryl’s the HBIC. She’s the it girl of her school. Everyone wants to be her and she thrives on the attention. Ever since her brother died she had become lonely. So changing who she was made her feel empowered, having people fear her made her feel invincible._

_The one thing that scared her was her parents, according to them the wrong twin died and they made it their mission to make her life miserable so in return she did the same. It’s a Love hate type of relationship._

_She just got done with her cheer-leading practice when she decided to head home and get ready for the night. Once she walks in she sees her mother who’s in a body cast sitting next to a man in white. She said nothing as she walked by them. She then saw more people in white across the massive room they were in._

_“Mother. What pray tell is going on?” She asked._

_“I can’t go on living like this anymore Cheryl” she said almost in tears._

_Cheryl smirked._

_“Do you have anything to say?” her mother asked._

_“I wouldn’t, if I was you” Cheryl said._

_“What does that mean?” she asked._

_“Oh mother. I have all kinds of information the cops would love to have," she said._

_“Oh. You mean the tape where you say you’re jealous of your brother and you killed him” her mother said with an evil looking smile._

_“What are you talking about?” She asked. “I loved JJ. I would never harm him” she said._

_“So you say” her mother shrugged._

_Cheryl is at a loss for words. She couldn’t believe her mother was saying this. It’s making her wonder if maybe she did have a part in her brother's death. “What do you want, mother?” she asked._

_Her mother laughed. “Nightmare Child. I want you gone” she said._

_Tears come out of her eyes._

_“These men are here to take you away. You will go with them and listen to what they have to say.” She said._

_“And if I don’t?” Cheryl asked._

_“Then the world will know everything,” her mother said grinning._

_Cheryl has never been more alone. She had nothing left, her mother won._

_The men in white walked up to her. And started to grab her. Cheryl starts to scream. And kick and fight. Then she fills a pinch on her neck. She goes down._

_“It's for the best. My sweet thing.” Her mother said as she kissed her cheek when the men lifted her up. “Please take care of her,” she adds. “She's my only child left and I want her fixed.” she adds._

_“We will,” the man said._

“You know that’s not how this works, Cheryl” Dr EverNever said “you need to say it for the program to really work” he adds.

Cheryl sighed and looked around at everyone. She feels something stir in her.

“I’m Cheryl. I’m also 17, and...... I’m here because.... I’ve tried to kill my mother” she said not believing anything she’s saying. “Like a lot.” she adds.

“What else?” the doctor asked.

“Really” she said rolling her eyes. “They think I’m going to kill myself to be with my brother” she adds.. Then she quickly looks down. She didn’t want to look at anyone. She looked up anyway and saw them looking at her. Eyes saying it will be okay.

Secrets can be classified as scars. They both show something has happened. Shows a story. Shows that you have survived. People don’t know they exist unless you tell them. This place, sunset meadows, has secrets. The people in this room have secrets.

Forsythe looks at the four in front of him. He finally gets to hear the blonde talk. Who is she? What’s her story?

All of a sudden he has a glimpse of something.

He’s standing in front of a blonde and by the looks of it they seem to be in a living room. He just got done professing his love for her. She said it back. I love you, is what he hears. He is shaking his head trying to get out of it. He’s confused. What is he seeing?

“Thank you. Cheryl. The first step is the hardest.” Dr Evernever said. The red head rolled her eyes. “Remember it gets easier and we are all here for you. We can heal each other.” He adds.He then looks at the blonde. This is the moment Forsythe has been waiting for. “Elizabeth my dear. Please share why you are here” Dr Evernever said to her.

She looks at Forsythe and smirks and he smiles. There is something about her.

_**1 week ago.** _

_Elizabeth is the perfect girl next door. She had perfect grades. The perfect friends. The perfect looks and the perfect family, or so everyone thought. She always had a facade on. Who is Elizabeth? That’s the question._

_She had a darkness in her that no one knew? Or did they._

_She had a perfect routine. She would wake up and get ready for school. Go to school. Come home. Do homework._

_But after everyone went to bed. Her darkness came out. She would put on a wig and dance to strangers._

_She was numb. Numb to it all. She just wanted to feel but then that causes her to be anxious, and then starts to panic and the only way she feels anywhere normal again is to feel a sense of release. She digs her nails into her palms and the pain ignites her. She feels complete. So she let it take over other parts of her body. She enjoys the pain. She enjoys how it feels._

_She’s sitting on her bathroom floor. When there’s a knock on the door._

_“Elizabeth honey.” her mother said._

_“Busy. I’ll be out in a minute.” She said. She tries to cover herself up. When she hears the doorknob turn. “Shit” She mutters._

_The door opens and her mother rushes in._

_“I knew it. I knew you were doing something. I can’t believe you. What will people think?” she’s yelling at Elizabeth._

_“Right, because your image is what matters most” Elizabeth said._

_“Why would you do this to us?” her mother said._

_“Us? Seriously. You make this about you. It’s unbelievable” Elizabeth said._

_“Then enlighten me Elizabeth. What is it then?” Her mother said._

_“Because mother. I enjoy it. It makes me feel alive. All I’m ever able to do is be perfect. I don’t want to do it anymore mother. I can’t. It’s killing me.” She’s screaming at the top of her lungs._

_“Elizabeth!!” His father said now._

_“Dad,” She said. She didn’t realize he was there._

_“It’s time to get help. You need help. Harming yourself is not good honey.” Her father said. She’s getting overwhelmed and she tries to dig her nails into her hands. Her father stops her. “No,” he said._

_“Leave me alone” she screams._

_“Honey, it’s for the best” he said_

_Her mother grabs her and starts to drag her out of the room. “These gentlemen are here to help you. You’re going with them” her mother is screaming._

_She sees her sister watching her. Elizabeth starts to cry. She’s then stuck with the needle and she’s out._

_“Is this the best way to do this” her sister said_

_“It’s the only way. She needs help” her mother said._

_Her father and mother hold her sister as the men take her out._

Elizabeth hasn’t stopped staring at Forsythe. She feels something. Something she hasn’t felt before. She felt hope. That everything will be okay. That he will make everything okay.

“Elizabeth” the doctor said, startling her.

“What.!! You want to know about my issues. Sex, drugs and Rock and roll.” She said, laughing.

“Elizabeth,” He said again.

“Fine!! I like to inflict pain on myself. I want to be able to feel, something, anything and that's the only way I know how.” she adds.

She looks around and she sees everyone smiling. They are all like her with their secrets. She grins back. Something's about to change in her life and for once she’s ready to feel it.

So the secrets have been told. Or have they?

Forsythe looks around at the others and he smiles. He thinks this is exactly what he needs.

The doctor smirks. He seemed pretty proud of himself “Now that you know a little bit about each other. It should be easier for you to talk and maybe mingle” Dr EverNever said.

The group said nothing. Only watched as the doctor talked.

“I’ll let you be here for a while. You’ll finish the group without me today” he said as he left the room and shut the door.

“So” Archibald was the first to speak. “How do we get out of this place?” he asked.

Forsythe put his fingers to his lips and did a silent “shh” while looking at them. “They’re watching us,” he adds quietly.

“Oh” Archibald mouthed.

“So how long have you been here?” Cheryl asked Forsythe.

“3 months, I think,” he said.

“Wow. That’s seems like a long time” she said

“Yeah.” He said looking around the room. He wants to talk to them. But this room is not the place. He shakes his head at her and she gets it. It’s not the time.

“You know, I feel like I know you guys already,” the blonde said, finally speaking.

“I have the same feeling.” Veronica said “it’s weird and this place seems off” she adds

Forsythe shakes his head again, this time at Veronica. She looks at him and he “shhs” her. He’s been around long enough to know what gets you in trouble and put you in the recovery room. He doesn’t want them to go there. He’s trying to warn them without getting himself in trouble. He hates the recovery room.

Elizabeth is now looking at him. His stomach is turning in knots.

“So what’s for fun around here?” she asked.

He laughs. Nothing in this place is fun. “Well. There’s the common area. That’s about it.” He said,

“So you just sit around all day and do nothing?” Veronica asked.

“Well. I’m writing a novel” he laughed. “That’s my only entertainment,” he adds.

“Oh... what’s it about?” Elizabeth asked. She seems interested in it.

“About a boy who was murdered by his father” Forsythe said

“Hmm” Cheryl said

They all turn to look at her.

“What?” Forsythe asked.

“My brother was killed and I’m pretty sure my father did it,” she said.

“That’s weird,” Veronica said.

“How did you come up with the plot?” Elizabeth asked.

“It comes to me in my dream” he shrugged.

The door soon opens and the doctor comes in.

“Today’s session is over. I feel like it’s a success” he said smiling to them. “I hope you continue to talk and get to know each other. I feel like we can be each other’s support system. Friends can be helpful in recovery” he said as he turned and left the room.

Archibald was the first to get up and leave. The others soon followed.

“Wait,” Forsythe said. They all stopped. “Be careful what you say. They watch our every move. And if they suspect anything, they'll send you to the recovery room. Which you don’t want to go there, ever” he said.

“How do we get out of here?” Archibald asked.

“You don’t. I’ve tried and I got caught and sent to recovery.” He said.

“Oh” Archibald said.

“So, what do we do now?” Veronica asked.

“All I know is. There’s something very odd about this place. And for some reason. I feel connected to each one of you” He said .

“Yeah” the others said. Seeming to be all in agreement.

“We will talk more. I’ll figure it out. They can’t hear us in the hallways. Only see us. So we can talk out here.” Forsythe told them.

“Okay.” They say and nod.

Forsythe looks around and makes sure no one is near them. “I’m going to go to the common area. Y’all can follow or go back to your room. Like I said. We will talk more” he said “one more thing” he said.

“What?” they all mouthed.

“What are your last names?” he asked

They all stared at him. They all looked confused.

“I don’t know,” Veronica said. “Why don’t I know.” She said getting very panicky.

“That’s what I thought. I don’t know mine either.” He said as he walked off

The other four watched him. They look at each other and for the first time since they’ve arrived they are worried.

“We should know our last names...right??” Archibald asked.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Yes.” She told him as she walked off. The others soon followed.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Forsythe is sitting in the common area with his pen and paper writing down his dream he had, well that's what he tells them anyways. But really he's writing down things he has learned. He’s making notes, lots of them. Hopefully, no one catches on to what he’s doing.

He still tries to hide though, in the shadows, while keeping more of an eye on everything right now, he sees the nurses watching him and the others more closely now. He doesn't like it. Why them? They are up to something that he does know.

This place and its secrets. He’s starting to wonder if anything is real anymore. He sighed. At least he doesn’t have to do this alone anymore. He has them now.

He notices Cheryl’s sitting alone in the corner looking out the window, on a cloudy day. Veronica and Archibald are talking at a table as they curiously look around. Then he sees Elizabeth walking towards him and he smiles.

As he’s watching her he has a glimpse of something.

_He’s sitting on a couch. The blonde is sitting next to him. He’s not sure what they are discussing. Elizabeth looks at him._

_“Or you could stay,” he told her. She’s looking at him trying to decide what she wants to do. He puts his hand on her leg. “Stay,” he said again._

_She grabs him and she moves and straddles his lap and they start to kiss. A kiss that’s so intense he can feel it in his body as he remembers this. He’s not sure how long they will stay like that. He starts to unzip her dress and trail light kisses down her neck onto her chest. It feels so real._

_Betty pulls away. “I need to tell you something,” she said to him._

_“What is it?” he asked._

_She seemed hesitant at first. He smiles at her. “I want you... I want all of you, tonight” she said to him as she leaned down and kissed him as his hands went up and down her back._

“Hey,” Elizabeth said as he’s brought back into reality. “You okay?” She asked, when she saw the awkward look on his face.

“I’m not sure any more," he chuckled softly. “Sometimes, I feel like I'm losing it.” he adds.

A nurse comes over, interrupting them. “Medicine time” she said. She hands them both their little cups of pills and applesauce. “You know the drill Forsythe” she said  
Elizabeth looked confused.

“Yeah, yeah. I can’t leave the room for awhile” he said as he rolled his eyes.

“Very good. Now let me see you take them please.” she said to both of them. He takes his and Elizabeth takes hers and then they both open their mouths to show the nurse. “Thank you” she said as she walked away.

Elizabeth arches her brow.

“They think I’m going to throw up my food,” he said.

“Will you?” She asked.

“No. I’m not entirely sure why they think I’m bulimic” he said.

“Oh. That’s odd” she said.

Forsythe started to cough and Elizabeth watched him closely “You okay?” She asked.

He looks around to see if anyone saw him, no one is watching him right now. That’s a surprise. “I am now” he smirked. He opens his hand and shows her the pills that he didn’t swallow. He leans into the table so he can be closer to her and whispers “don’t take the pills” he said.

She then smiles and opens her mouth to show him the pills that she hasn’t swallowed.

He chuckled.

“Back away you two. You can’t be that close.” someone yelled from across the room. They look up and see the same nurse looking at them both and shaking her head.

“I don’t trust this place” she said as she turned back to look at him.

“Neither do I. I stopped taking the pills the day I saw you guys” he told her.

“Why us?” She asked.

“I’m not sure. I just feel something” he looks at her watching her face, her expressions, he's looking for anything. Then he blurts out. “God your beautiful.”

Elizabeth blushes. “I feel like I’ve kissed you before” Elizabeth blurted out this time.

“Yeah.” He said as he looked around to see if anyone’s watching them.

He leans in, not too close. But close enough to where she’s the only one that can hear him. “Ever since I stopped the pills. I’m having these flashes of us. Like we were together before this.” He told her “it’s like we already know each other. All of us” he states.

She looks around and says, “I feel that you are right.”

They heard a scream. They look up. It was Cheryl. “I’m not taking those pills. Don’t touch me” she’s yelling. Cheryl then hits a nurse. Then they held her down and injected her with something.

“Take her to the recovery room now” the nurse ordered.

Elizabeth and Forsythe just watch as Cheryl’s taken away. They look back at each other and stay silent the rest of the time they are there, neither want to get caught saying something they shouldn't and get sent to recovery.

~

Later in the day

Elizabeth leaves the room she has been sharing with Veronica since she got here. She’s really nice and they get along real well. She really wants to call her V and she doesn’t know why. A lot of things seem so off to her but she’s going with the flow.

This place needs some serious color, Elizabeth thought to herself as she explored the halls at sunset meadows. Everything is just so white, she feels like they are in some type of hospital instead of a treatment center. As she walks down the corridor There’s a lot of rooms she’s noticed that are off limits to the patients. She makes a mental note for later. Maybe this is something she can do to occupy her time. Maybe Forsythe could help her. There’s just something about him that makes her feel safe. Also, He’s just so beautiful she thought to herself.

She turns the corner and sees something that doesn’t seem real but more real than anything she’s ever felt.

_She seems to be having a conversation with Forsythe. He’s in a bathrobe lying on a bed reading a book. They both seem to be teasing each other._

_“You know what I just realized? She asked him. “Out of the four of us, only you and Archie haven’t kissed," she adds._

_Forsythe smirks. “Fascinating,” He said.Then he looks at her. “Wait what?” he asked, smirking again “you and Veronica?” he said._

_She nods and closes the bathroom door._

“What the fuck?” she said out loud.

“What was that?” A nurse asked her.

“Nothing,” She said as the nurse turned and walked away.

Is Archie, Archibald? He has to be. That’s an unusual name.

Then her mind goes to another image

_She and Forsythe stood outside what looked to be a worn down bar. The Whyt Wyrm, she reads on a sign. It has a snake emblem on it. It’s cold, she thought, and it seems to be really late. Forsythe looks at her and he looks very upset. She feels upset as well. She’s been crying. About what, she’s not sure. It feels so real to her._

_She goes and grabs his face and he pulls away. “How many times, Jug?” How many times are we going to push each other away?” She asked him._

_“Until it sticks,” he said._

_She’s sobbing and he turns and walks away._

Why did she call him Jug? She wonders. Then a flood of emotions hit her. She is holding her chest. She can’t breathe. What’s happening to her? She’s trying to walk down the hallway. She can’t move. Her body feels numb. She’s falling.

Someone catches her. “Breathe Elizabeth.”

She looked up and it was Forsythe. She felt a sense of relief.

He’s grabbing her hands and looking at them. It looks like he’s checking to see if there are any new marks in her palms. She looks at him, how does he know? She thought.

Her breathing is starting to stabilize.

“Thank you,” Elizabeth said.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think.” she laughed. What else was she supposed to say? No. I’m losing my mind. She looked around to see if there was anyone near them.

He sees that she's hesitant and takes her hand and he walks them to an unlocked room that's a little bit down the hall and they go in.

“Where are we?” She asked him as he shut the door behind them and locked it.

It’s a room that doesn't look like it's been used often. The furniture is covered in white sheets and it’s a little dusty. It could pass as a classroom of sorts. There is a chalkboard on the back wall.

“I don’t know. I come here and hide when I’m not in the mood to deal with people. Which is pretty much all the time.” He sighed “But I don’t stay long. I don’t want them to find my hiding spot” he chuckled. “I need time away, if you get what I’m saying” he adds.

“Nice” she smiled. “And I do, I remember sneaking away at home a lot.” she adds.

“So what caused you to....um...have a panic attack?” he asked.

“It was so weird. I was walking down the hall and then all of a sudden I saw something: a vision or a memory. I’m not sure what it was. I saw you and I.... I think we were together.” She said, looking at him.

Forsythe said nothing. Just watched her.

“Then there was another one and I think we broke up.... I felt the emotion.... it seemed so real” she said. “I called you Jug and Archibald was Archie,” she adds.

“Interesting” He said finally.

“You probably think I’m crazy,” she said, getting a little anxious.

Forsythe started to laugh. She looked confused. “I definitely think you're 100% sane.” He said.

“Huh?” she said.

“Elizabeth, You’re not crazy. I promise. I’ve had similar ones” he told her.

Elizabeth sighed. “What’s going on? Because none of this makes sense.” She asked knowing he didn’t have the answer.

“I’m not sure. But I’m going to find out” he said. She smiles at him.“Want to help me?” He adds, asking.

“Of course” she said, smirking. Investigating seems like something normal.

“We need to go though. We’ve been here way too long” he said.

She nods and he grabs her hand, walks out and back into the hallway and heads back to the common area.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy August

Forsythe sits in his usual spot by the window. Watching the world around him. He’s writing in his notebook that he keeps with him. He’s started to write down every memory that’s coming back. Well, he thinks it’s a memory anyway. What else could it be? That’s a question that still needs to be answered and he’s bound and determined to find out. 

As the days pass it’s getting weirder and weirder. The doctors and nurses are constantly watching them and because of that it was hard trying to get Archibald and Veronica by themselves to tell them about the medicine. He is finally able to talk to them, separately though. He tells them both what he knows about the medicine and and they didn’t have any issues not taking it. 

It’s been a few days since Cheryl got taken away to the recovery room for her outburst. Hopefully she doesn’t do that again. But he has a feeling she’s going to be stubborn. She should be back soon and then he will talk to her. He needs her on the same page as them. 

An announcement came across the intercom.

“Green team, please remember that the session starts in the Sunshine room at 2:15. I repeat   
Green team only," the person said.

Forsythe laughed. They were all giving team names yesterday. Something new that they were trying to do, he guesses. One of the nurses asked him to name a color and green was the first thing that popped in his head. Green as in Elizabeth’s eyes.

Elizabeth looks at him from across the room and she smiles. He smiles back. 

Around noon Cheryl comes into the common area. She looks exhausted. That’s their goal there. Make you tired enough for you not to disobey. Cheryl looks at Forsythe and heads towards him. 

“Is this seat taken?” she asked very politely as she looked to see if anybody was watching her.

“Nope,” He said, looking up at her.

She sits down and doesn’t say anything at first. Forsythe goes back to writing. After a few minutes he looks and sees no one is watching them right now. 

“Stop taking the red pill,” he told her. 

She looked at him and nodded. She then looks around. “Already have. After the first night it made me feel really uncomfortable and since then I haven’t.” She said.

“Yeah. Me too” Forsythe said “You need to make sure you’re not sent to recovery again” he adds.

“Yeah. I know. I got so mad and couldn’t help it the other day” she shakes her head “that place is horrible. I will absolutely make sure I don’t go back.” She said as a shiver went up her spine. That place will give anyone nightmares, even the strongest.

“I was there once. It’s a very overwhelming place.” He told her. “I make sure that I don’t go back,” he adds.

“I did over hear someone down there talk about test group 13 a lot.” She said.

“Hmm” He said “ill store that away for later. It may come in handy” he said as he wrote it down in his notebook.

Cheryl looks around the room again. “I think I remembered something or two somethings.” She said.

“What’s that?” he asked her, making sure he didn't look up at her. 

“First, I think I’m related to Elizabeth. I had some flashes of her in it and I called her cousin” Cheryl said laughing. “I also called you hobo..... I really want to know what that’s about” she smirked.

Forsythe rolled his eyes. He has a feeling Cheryl could be a mythic bitch. “What’s the second thing?” he asked her. 

“Well... I think we were in some sort of gang.” She said.

“Hmm?” he said. He had the same feeling.

“You handed me a red jacket and it had a snake on it” She said.

“Oh....umm... that’s interesting” he told her.

“I thought so,” she said.

They both heard commotion and they looked up. They see two people standing at the entrance, both starting at them with their mouths wide open. One was a short pink haired woman and the other was a very tall man. 

“What the fuck” the man said.

“Cheryl....Jones” The woman said.

The woman looks over and she sees Elizabeth, Archibald and Veronica sitting around the table playing scrabble. “Oh my god. Do you see this? ” she asked in disbelief.

He nods.

They both seem like they’ve seen a ghost or five. “Toni. We need to go.” The man said,   
She looks at him with confusion. “I know,” he said.

She looks at them and frowns and heads out the door with the man. 

“They acted like they knew us,” Forsythe said. “All of us,” he adds.

“The man. He had a tattoo on his neck, it was the same on the jacket that you handed me in my memory.” Cheryl said.

Forsythe sighed, “What the fuck is going on?” he asked. 

“I don’t know,” Cheryl said as she frowned.

Forsythe looked at the time. “Shit. It’s time for our group session in the sunshine room.” He said.

She nods and they both get up. 

Forsythe gestures towards the others and Archibald, Veronica and Elizabeth follow them. 

They all sit in their assigned seats in the sunshine room. Forsythe is extremely happy that he’s sitting next to the beautiful blonde. He’s having more and more trouble staying away from her.

They are all listening to Dr. EverNever talk about nonsense, they could care less about what he has to say. All are waiting for him to leave so they can discuss what Forsythe and Cheryl discovered. 

Who are these people? And what does the snake mean? 

Little does the staff at Sunset Meadows know. Elizabeth snuck away and tinkered with the video and audio system in the room they’re in. She’s proud of herself for knowing how to do that. She’s not sure where she got the knowledge from but she’s going with it. 

When the nurses look at the monitors they will see a prerecorded video and because they are always wearing the same thing they will be none the wiser. Once the session is over with the video will stop.

“So, how's this week been for you guys? Are you feeling better? Or are you feeling worse?” The doctor asked them.

“It’s been enlightening,” Forsythe said.

“Why do you say that?” He asked as he took notes in his binder. Forsythe wonders what he wrote down.

“Made friends” Forsythe grinned “I’m not lonely anymore” he adds, smiling.

“Very good. I thought once you meet them you will click with them. Unlike the others you have met in the past.” he said excitedly.

Forsythe nods he knows the other people they tried to have him meet he didn’t like. They seemed like snobs. But now he wonders about other things, especially with what the doctor has said. 

“Elizabeth, how about you?” He asked.

“I don’t feel as anxious.” she said.

Which is true, her anxiety has not been as extreme. Especially when she’s around Forsythe. He seems to have calmed her down. She also calms him down. 

“That’s wonderful.” he said “Keep doing what you’re doing. It’s working.” he adds, again writing down something in his notebook.

“Oh. I plan on it” she said, smiling at Forsythe.

“Archibald. How’s this week been for you?” he asked.

“I’m still shaky and I’m still foggy,” he said.

“That’s Okay. That means it’s still working its way out of your system” Dr. EverNever said.

Archibald nods. He doesn’t think he’s a drug addict. But he thinks the reason he feels like shit is because of the red pills. He wants to know more about the red pills. 

“Cheryl. How about you? How's the anger?” he said.

“Still there. But I don’t want to kill anyone today” she smirked.

“That’s a plus,” he said.

She kind of wants to kill him. But she’s not going to tell him that.

“Veronica, and you?” He asked.

“And me what?” She asked back, with a slight attitude.

“Veronica. For this to work. You must be open and willingly share your feelings. Others shared their feelings. You must do the same.” He said.

Veronica laughed. “Do I feel like I want to jump someone’s bones? Absolutely! Have I? Not yet anyway.” she said, as she smiled at him.

“Oh. Um that’s good I guess” he said. Veronica caught him off guard. He wasn’t expecting that kind of response. 

She shrugged her shoulders. 

“So for the next 20 minutes, it will just be you guys. I have some stuff I need to tend to. But I will be back," he said.

“Okay,” Forsythe said. This is what he’s been waiting for.

Dr. Evernever left the room and shut the door behind him. They waited a couple minutes just in case he popped back in.

“My god I thought he would never shut up” Cheryl said.

Veronica looked around nervously and put her fingers to her lips and shushed Cheryl.

“It’s all good Veronica. Elizabeth took care of the surveillance system. They won’t hear us” Forsythe said.

“Thank god.” Archibald said.

Veronica and Cheryl look at Elizabeth in disbelief. 

“So I have some information. Cheryl had a memory come to her. That’s what I’m calling it anyways, because I think they are Memories” he said.

“You think that we know each other already?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yeah. I do. That’s why we all have this connection.” He said.

“That’s crazy.” Veronica said.

“Yeah I know. But she thinks there is a gang involved. Then these two people came in here, today.” He said, 

“Did you know them?” Elizabeth asked.

“No. But I think they knew us” forsythe said.

“Why do you say that?” Elizabeth asked.

“The look on their faces said it all,” he said.

“Yeah. They were in shock. Like they weren’t expecting us to be here” Cheryl said.

“Hmm. That’s interesting.” Veronica said.

“Very. And the man had the same image tattooed on his neck.” Forsythe said.

“What image was it?” Archibald asked.

“It was a snake.” Cheryl asked him.

“Oh” Archibald said “Umm. Weird” he adds as he got kind of nervous then and started to move around in his seat.

Forsythe arched his brow trying to figure Archibald out. 

“I have a snake on my arm” he said as he pulled his sleeve.

“Oh. You don’t know what it is” Forsythe asked.

Archibald shakes his head no.

“Umm. Forsythe?” Elizabeth said.

“What?” he asked.

“Your arm” she pointed to him.

Forsythe lifted the arm of his shirt up. The same snake tattoo is on his arm. “What the fuck?” he said.

Dr Evernever came back in and they finished that day's session. Some questions have been answered. New questions have appeared. 

Later that night they are all sitting at a table in the dining area. Archibald next to Veronica. Elizabeth next to Forsythe and Cheryl is sort of in the middle. Elizabeth is playing with her food on the plate. 

“Be careful what you do over here. Remember they watch me eat” Forsythe said as he laid his head on the table.

“I’m not entirely sure you can call this food.” Elizabeth said.

“I know. But It doesn’t taste too bad.” he said as he frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked as she frowned.

“I have a massive headache.” Forsythe said as he rubbed his forehead, trying to aleve some of the pain.

“Will they allow you to take anything for it” Veronica asked, as she slowly started to eat her food. 

“I don’t trust anything they give me that’s in a pill form” he said.

“Understandable” Veronica said.

A nurse comes over to the table. “Forsythe. You know you have to eat” she said.

“I know. I just have a headache.” he replied with.

“You have 10 more minutes to eat before I take your tray. Try to eat please” she said.

“Okay. I will ma’am” he said.

She nods and walks away.

“Ugh” He said as he grabbed his fork and started to eat. 

Veronica looks to see if anyone is in hearing distance. “Do you really have an eating disorder?” Veronica asked.

“Nope.” He said as he chewed his food. “I am an insomniac though. I have a hard time sleeping at night.” Forsythe said. “What about you?” He adds, as he asked Veronica.

She looks around. “I have this feeling that I’ve only been with one person. I don’t know.....it’s very weird....your brain is trying to tell you one thing, yet your heart is saying another.” She said, sighing. “What do you trust?” she adds, asking no one in particular. 

“Your intuition," Elizabeth smiles. “That’s what I did when it came to you guys. It told me I could trust you.” She said.

“Yeah,” Veronica said.

Forsythe finished his food and laid his head back down. The nurse came over and took his tray. “You can’t leave for 45 minutes. At least you have company to wait with you” the nurse said.

He nods.

The table is silent for a few minutes. Archibald looks around the room while the others eat their remaining food. “I could kill for a milkshake right now” Archibald said out of nowhere. “One of those old-fashioned ones with a cherry on top” he adds smiling. Like it’s the best thing he’s ever thought of. 

The group agreed with him. Then there’s silence again. 

“I did try to kill my mom” Cheryl said matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” Forsythe said not actually expecting her to admit to that. 

“She deserves it. Like I said, I think she’s covering for my dad who I believe killed my twin” she said 

“Jason” Elizabeth said under her voice.

“How do you know my brother's name?” Cheryl asked.

“Oh...umm...It just came to me. I think my sister's boyfriend was named Jason” Elizabeth said.

“My brother had a girlfriend that he knocked up,” Cheryl said.

Elizabeth gasped. “My sister is pregnant,” she said.

“Oh. Well, this is interesting” Veronica said.

“Indeed” both Elizabeth and Cheryl say at the same time. 

“Ok so far we have” forsythe paused for a moment. “We somehow know each other, we are in a gang that deals with snakes.” Forsythe said “some of our addictions and issues aren’t real. Some are though” looking at Cheryl who smirks. “Both Archibald and I have those snake tattoos. The same one that man had who, if I had to guess, knew us and Elizabeth and Cheryl are connected even deeper.” He adds. 

“About that tattoo” Elizabeth said as she pulled down her pants low enough to show them the snake on her hip.

“Oh,” Forsythe said.

“Same here” Cheryl said, lowering her top. She had one on her chest.

They look towards Veronica “Unfortunately, I don’t have one” she said “but I do have something to add. I think my father is a mob boss” she adds.

“Hmm” forsythe said.

“I don’t know, it just came to me” she said.

“I’ll add it. It’s part of the mystery” he said.

“Dinners over. Time to go to your rooms for reflection” a lady on the intercom said. 

They all said their goodbyes. Veronica stays with Elizabeth and Forsythe now rooms with Archibald. Cheryl, however, is by herself. Safety concerns for other patients, they say. She’s okay with it.

~

Doctor EverNever comes in behind them and walks to the nurse. 

“How is everything? Evelyn” he asked.

“They're doing well. They seem to be getting along well. They're also starting to remember some things.” she said. 

“Very good.” He said “just keep watching. Phase two will start shortly.” He adds. 

“Yes, Doctor” She said as she walked away.


	4. Chapter 4

Forsythe walks down the hallway to where the room he needs to be in is. He is required to go to mediation soon, it's a part of his therapy. He really doesn’t see the point of it. But they feel like it will help him sleep better at night. As he’s walking he hears a quiet whimper. He looks around and sees no one. It’s coming from a room where the door is slightly open. He heads towards it and opens it more and goes in and he sees Elizabeth sitting on the floor rocking back and forth. He rushes over to her.

“Elizabeth. What’s wrong?” he asked her as he knelt in front of her.

“I can’t. I just can’t” she said over and over again.

“Can’t, what?” He asked if he's very concerned at the moment.

“I’m trying. I’m trying so hard” she said as tears started to come out of her eyes and down her face.

She opens her hands and that’s when he sees it. Crescent shaped wounds on her palms. Blood coming out.

“Shh” he says as he takes her hands in his so that she can’t dig her fingers in her palms anymore. He pulls her into his lap. Her back against his chest. They rock back and forth together. “Breathe. With me” he said.

She does. Her breathing is starting to regain its normalcy. Her head lays on his shoulder. Forsythe feels like they’ve been in this position before. Him trying to work her through her anxiety attack. He looks down at her. She looks like herself again. He’s still worried though.

“You better?” He asked her.

She sighed and looked up at him.

“Something is very, very wrong with me. There’s a darkness inside me that’s overwhelming. Sometimes I don’t know where it comes from. But I think it’s what makes me do... crazy things like.....” She said looking at him and she opened her hands. He looks at her and looks at her hands. He takes them in his hand and brings them to his lips and kisses them. It's a sign that it will be okay and that he’s here for her.

A sense of deja vu comes across him though. Elizabeth and him are sitting in a booth at what looks to be a diner. He’s very sad and seems a tad angry. She’s laying on his shoulder. It’s very eerie. This moment happened before he knew it. He’s then brought back the reality when Elizabeth is moving in his lap.

She lays a soft and sweet kiss on his lips and lays her head back on his shoulder. He smiles.

He’s unsure how long they will stay like that. But soon he knows it’s time to go to his class. “I hate to do this to you, but I have to get into meditation, like now," Forsythe said.

“I have art. I hate art.” she chuckled.

He stands her up and he follows. He then pulls her into a hug and leans down. “If you ever need me, please find me. I will always be here for you” he said as he kissed her hard and passionately on the lips.

Her breath hitched and she smiled when he said that and kissed her. She needs this. A sense of belonging. A sense of being wanted.

She nods and he walks towards his destination.

She lays her head on the wall and takes a deep breath. At first she thought he would run when he saw her, it seems like that's what everyone does. That’s not even at her worst but it was pretty bad. When he helped her through her attack. It made her feel warm. Now she thinks she feels safe when it comes to him. Right then, no matter what happens. No matter what dark secrets this place has left to be exposed. She will always have him.

Deep down she believes they are soul mates.

She heads to her art class exhausted. She really just wants a nap. But they won’t allow it and she really doesn’t want to share with them what just happened with her.

Forsythe arrives at Miss Linda’s mediation class.

“Hello Forsythe.” Ms Linda said.

“Hi,” he said and he goes and finds his mat and sits down.

He’s tired and thinks he could use a nap. He wonders if he falls asleep during this if they would let him sleep. They already know he has a sleeping problem. Maybe he could use this to his advantage.

“Alright. I’m going to start the music and I want you to relax your mind.” She said. “I want you to become one with yourself.

Forsythe does what he’s told and clears all his thoughts. Or tries to or anyways, his thoughts go back to the beautiful blonde he just left.

~

Days pass and nothing exciting happens. They do the same thing everyday. It’s getting repetitive.

In the days since Elizabeth’s panic attack, Forsythe has been spending more time with her to make sure she’s alright. He has gotten quite comfortable with her. It’s easy, like this is something he has always known.

Now he is sitting in the common area when he sees Veronica come in. She’s yelling and screaming. He’s not sure who it's towards. If she doesn’t calm down she’s going to be taken to the recovery room. He gets up and walks towards her as he’s walking he suddenly remembers something.

_He’s in a hot tub sitting next to Elizabeth and across from Archibald and Veronica._

_“Full disclosure time. When I found out about this kiss. I was hurt” Veronica said._

_“Veronica. Look I’m sorry” Archibald said._

_Elizabeth said nothing, only looked at Forsythe who seemed amused._

_“Jughead and I should kiss. To make it an even playing field” Veronica said._

_“Veronica!” Archibald and Elizabeth both spoke at the same time._

_“Veronica’s right.” Forsythe said as he got up and stood in the middle of all of them._

_“You’re not mad jug.” Elizabeth said._

_“I’m not.” he said._

_“Sure” She said, rolling her eyes._

_“This thing here, a Vughead kiss could keep a future Bughead and Varchie from imploding” he said looking at Archibald and smirking._

_Elizabeth starts laughing “Did you just ship us” she said._

_“I sure did.” he said proudly, like it’s the best thing he's ever come up with._

_Veronica moves towards Forsythe “Don’t freak out, just trust me," Veronica said as she put her hand behind his head and pulled him in for a kiss._

_Elizabeth and Archibald don’t seem pleased._

He’s brought back to Veronica yelling.

“I said don’t touch me.” Veronica said yelling at a nurse.

“Calm down Veronica” the nurse said, as she pulled a syringe out of her pocket. More nurses came to her aid.

“Shit” he says.

Another memory comes to him. They are in a living room of sorts. All four of them are standing.

_Veronica and Forsythe are yelling at each other._

_“Your father is trying to take over Riverdale,” he said._

_“He’s trying to help, Jug,” Veronica said._

_“By buying the Southside” Forsythe said as he got angrier._

_“And that’s a bad thing. He’s trying to help everyone” she said._

_“He’s trying to control everyone and everything” forsythe said_

Back to reality.

Veronica was just injected with something and she calms down. The nurse and an orderly take her away. They won’t be seeing her for a few days. He shakes his head. He’s warned them, he's warned all of them.

He goes and sits down. He starts to think about what he just saw. Why did she call him Jughead? It’s obviously a nickname. But why? Why would someone willingly be called that? Where is Riverdale? Is that where they are from? What’s the Southside? And why is her father buying up the town? And what kiss are they referring too? Some many more questions with no answers. He’s getting frustrated.

He looks at the time and smiles. Elizabeth should be getting out of reflection soon. He’s not sure where Archibald and Cheryl are. Once he finds them he will tell them what he's learned.

He hears a tiny noise. He looks over and sees the pink haired women from the other day. She’s dressed in scrubs. She’s waving for him to come to her. He gets up and walks to her.

“Hello” He said.

“Hi” she smiled. “Do you recognize me?” she asked.

He shakes his head no.

“Thought so. I’m Toni” she said.

“Hi Toni.” He said as he looked around “I bet you know me though. Huh?” He said.

“I do!” She said “I know the others as well” she adds.

He smiles, Finally someone that knows something.

“What do they call you?” she asked.

“Forsythe” he replied.

“Ahh. Your real name” she said.

“Do I go by Jughead?” he asked as he looked around. He felt like he could get in trouble talking to her. So he tried to keep a look out for the nurses.

“Yeah. That’s your nickname.” Toni said “okay, I can’t stay long. I don’t want them to catch on to me. But I will be back. Jug. Don’t trust anyone but you and the others. Okay?” She said.

“Why should I trust you?” He asked her.

She pulled down her shirt and he saw it. The same picture on all of them. The snake.

“That’s the same snake that we have,” he said.

“It’s a serpent,” she said, walking away. She turns to him and smiles. She walks out of the room.

What the fuck? He thought. Even more fucking questions. He sighed. He’s tired and he needs to go find Elizabeth. Forsythe was heading towards the common area when he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He runs to the restroom so he doesn't get sick everywhere. After he’s done getting puking he heads to the door when he sees two nurses there waiting for him.

“Forsythe, you need to come with us.” She said.

“You know the drill. It’s recovery for you” the other one said.

“Fuck” he said. He knows he didn’t do anything wrong. But there was no getting out of this. Nurses escorted him away.

Elizabeth is walking toward her room. She needs to get something before she meets up with the others. As she’s walking she slips and falls and the empty glass she’s holding breaks and cuts her hand. She gasps and runs to her room. Not before a nurse sees her and goes towards her.

“Elizabeth, What are you doing?” The nurse asked.

“Nothing,” Elizabeth said, trying to hide her hand.

“Show me your hand. Please," the nurse asked. Betty sighed and did what was asked of her. “Elizabeth. You need to come with me," she said.

“I fell. I didn’t cut myself. I promise," she said, crying.

“I’m sorry but it’s recovery for you.” the nurse said.

“Shit” is all Elizabeth said.

Cheryl’s sitting in the common area waiting for the others when Archibald comes in. “Forsythe and Elizabeth just got taken to recovery” he said.

“Well fuck, that’s not good” she said.

“Yeah. Veronica should be getting out today.” He said.

“Why are they in?” She asked.

“Forsythe got caught throwing up and Elizabeth got caught cutting.” he told her.

“I don’t buy that” She said, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them.

“Neither do I.” He said as he looked around the room. He leans down to her ear. “We need to get out of here. I feel like something is seriously wrong and it’s only going to get worse” Archibald said to her.

“I know,” she said “Will you meet me back here for dinner?” Cheryl asked.

He nods and she gets up and starts to walk away. She’s not sure where she's walking to. She just needed some space. She’s getting very tired of not knowing what’s going on. When she was in recovery she couldn’t remember a single thing. And she wonders if that will be the same for them. She starts walking down a flight of stairs when something grabs her hand. She jumps and looks and sees that it’s the couple she saw the other day.

“Excuse me!” Cheryl said.

“Cheryl,” the girl said.

“That’s my name.” she said matter of factly.

“I’m Toni and this is Pea,” she said.

“Don’t care,” Cheryl said as she started to walk away.

“Yes you do,” Toni said.

“Toni. Be nice” pea said.

“Who are you?” Cheryl asked them.

“I’m a friend... Do you know where Jug is?” she asked.

“No clue who that is.” Cheryl said.

“Umm... Forsythe” toni said.

“Oh. He’s in recovery.” Cheryl said as she wondered what type of name Jughead was. Then she smiled. Was it any worse than Forsythe?

“Umm. Okay?” Toni asked, confused.

“It’s a place where you go when you get caught doing something they don’t approve of.” Cheryl told them.

“I see.” Toni said.

“How old are you?” Pea asked, interrupting Toni.

“Pea!!” Toni said as he shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m 17. Why?” Cheryl asked back.

“Just wondering.” Toni said, as she looked at Pea. Pea shook his head and Toni turned her attention back to Cheryl. Toni and Pea were confused when she said that.

“I feel like I know you,” Cheryl told them.

“Because you do” Toni said with a soft smile, she doesn’t want to frighten her. There’s a noise and they all look down the hall.

“We need to go. Toni.” He said.

“Okay.” she replied to him. She looks at Cheryl and hands her something. “Take this. Show the others and only trust the 5 of you” Toni said and pea started to pull her away. “I’m going to come back for you” she adds yelling.

Cheryl’s more confused. She looks at what is in her hand. It’s a picture. Forsythe and Elizabeth, Archibald and Veronica and herself, with the girl that just left. She turns the picture over and it says prom 2019. Jughead, Betty, Archie, Ronnie, Cher and Toni. Toni looks older than she did in the picture while they still look the same.

Archibald is right. They need to get out of here.


	5. chapter 5

Veronica, Elizabeth and Forsythe have been let out of recovery today. They were put in because they broke the rules. Now they are confined to their room until tomorrow. Just to make sure they stay in line and don’t break the rules again.

The Recovery Room is a dark and scary place, a place no one likes to visit. It’s uncertain what happens there. No one remembers, they just remember the way they felt after leaving. It’s part of Edgar's program to instill fear in his patients. He believes it speeds up recovery. Recovery from what is still the question of the hour.

Cheryl walks past the girls room and the door is slightly open, she peaks in and both girls are sleeping. She let's them be and continues down the hall. Archibald comes up to her. She hasn’t spent a lot of time with him yet and she’s still cautious around him, but she was told to trust him and that she will do.

“Hey.” He said as he stopped in front of her.

“What’s up red?” she smirked.

“Red? Really.” he chuckled. “You don't have much room to talk,” he adds, pointing to her red hair.

“I know, but I feel like I've called you that before, it just came to me just now.” She said, smiling.

“Yeah, Just like I want to call you Cherry.” he laughed.

“Oh, I like that.” she said as she laughed alongside him. “You should,” she adds.

Archie just shook his head, “Anyways, Some girl just gave me this and told me to give it you” He’s said

“Who?” Cheryl asked.

“Some pink haired girl,” he adds.

“Oh” she said as she took the note. “Must be the same one she talked to earlier.

She starts to read it.

_**-Cheryl** _  
_**There’s someone on the inside now to help you guys out. His name is Kevin. Trust him. He’s working as a guard. He will be there tonight. Also, you should be able to move around at night without being caught on camera. I’ll be back. I promise once I figure out what’s going on, you will know it as well.** _  
_**\- Toni Topaz** _

“Interesting.” She said,

“What’s that?” Archibald asked.

“You didn’t read it?” she asked him,

“No, she said it was for you.” he said,

Cheryl smiled. “Umm. Go get Forsythe and meet me in the girls room. We all need to talk about some things” she told him.

He nods and walks off down the other hallway. She goes back to the girls room, where she was just at. It’s time to wake them up.

Back in the boys room. Archibald is trying to wake up Forsythe “Wake up” he said, shaking him, he's having a hard time. It's like he's dead to the world.

Eventually he starts to stir.

“Where am I?” Forsythe asked as he looked around. “Never mind.” He said, sighing. “How many days” he adds asking as he sits up.

“Three days, but get dressed, we need to go. We are meeting up with the girls. There’s been some new developments” Archibald said.

“Umm? Isn’t it past lights out” he asked. Forsythe wasn’t in the mood to go back to recovery and he didn’t understand why Archibald would willingly walk out in the hall and get caught, which made no sense to him. But again, nothing makes sense anymore.

“Like I said new developments, trust me, please.” He said.

“Okay,” Forsythe said as they left the room. They head to the girls room where Cheryl’s waiting for them. She opens the door and the girls are awake. Forsythe goes and sits next to Elizabeth, where he takes her hand and kisses it. Archibald goes and sits next to Veronica and does the same. Cheryl smirks, she’s feeling like Deja Vu.

“I feel groggy,” Elizabeth said, “and I don’t remember anything,” she adds.

“Same.” Veronica said. “I do know that I don’t want to go back, there’s something off about that place.” she adds as a shiver went up her spine. Archibald grabbed her hand. Veronica smiled softly at him.

Forsythe looks around at all the faces. He feels very protective of each one of them. “So before I was taken to recovery for some bullshit I might add” he said rolling his eyes.

Elizabeth gripped his hand. “Right. Same here. They said I was cutting. I fucking fell and broke a glass," Elizabeth adds as she hears him growl at her words.

“Anyways. I had met that one girl. Her name was Toni” he said “she told me we were friends and my nickname was Jughead and trust only you guys. Also, this tattoo is called a serpent. She had one also” he adds.

“I call you Juggie in one of my memories I had ... I like it” Elizabeth said.

Forsythe smiles at her as she moves closer to him. It’s like they can’t be apart. Same with Veronica and Archibald. Something is drawing them together.

“So, she knows us?” Veronica asked.

“I believe so,” Cheryl said. All eyes are on her now. “I talked to her the other day. She came and asked for you, Forsythe. Then she told me to trust only you guys. It was weird. She had that guy with him. She called him Pea.” Cheryl said.

“Sweet Pea?” Forsythe asked as he wanted to laugh at the name, what man has the nickname Sweet Pea, and then he realized his nickname was Jughead. He wants to know where the hell they got their nicknames from.

“I don’t know,” she said, as she frowned. She’s trying to remember everything this toni girl said.

“It just came to me” he said “Did she ask you anything else?” He added, asking.

“Yeah. Asked me how old I was and the guy seemed shocked when I told him. She then handed me this.” Cheryl said as she handed him the picture that Toni had given her.

Forsythe looks at it and passes it along “That’s interesting” he said.

“Prom 2019?” Elizabeth said “That’s us.... is that what we are called?” She asked.

“So you’re Jughead” pointing at him “Im guessing you’re Betty” she said moving to her next. “I’m Ronnie.” She looks at Archibald “Archie... and then that leaves you... Cher?” Veronica said.

“Yeah.” Cheryl said.

“Wow,” Archibald said.

“Yeah.... we all look the same in that picture... except Toni she looks older now.” Cheryl said.

“You’re right. She does look older.” Forsythe said.

“So, that leads to the other thing I have.” Cheryl said.

“What’s that?” he asked her.

“Umm. I was looking around the front desk” she said as she pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him.

“What’s this?” He asked her, very confused as to what she was getting at. He showed Elizabeth the paper.

“That’s the date. It’s May of 2024.” She said “that picture was taken 5 years ago” she adds.

“Umm, What?” They all said.

Confusion spread across their faces. How could they look the same in the picture if it was 5 years ago? Forsythe holds on to Elizabeth as she starts to shake. They all look at each other. Trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

“I don’t understand” Veronica said “How can that be 5 years ago?” she asked, knowing no one knew the answer.

“I don’t know and I’m getting scared.” Elizabeth said.

Forsythe leaned in to her and whispered “It will be okay. I promise.”

She nods.

“Tell them about the note,” Archibald said to Cheryl.

“What note?” Forsythe asked.

“Oh. I forgot. Before coming here Archie?” She said, looking at him.

He nods.

“Gave me a note that he said he got from that Toni girl.” She said.

“What did it say?” Forsythe asked.

“That there’s someone on the inside now. His name is Kevin” she said.

“That name sounds familiar,” Elizabeth said.

“Yeah. He works in security and I think we need to find him.” Cheryl said. “She told us to trust him and I think we should.” she adds.

“Sounds like a plan,” Forsythe said.

So the five of them left the girls room. They made sure to be quiet, so they wouldn’t get caught. Even though Cheryl reassures them that they won’t. They head towards the basement. That’s where security is located.

“Shh” Veronica said.

“You shh” Forsythe said.

“Ugh” Veronica threw her head back in frustration “Jug. That is what I’m calling you from now on. Because, quite frankly, I hate your name” she said.

Elizabeth starts laughing. “You too. Betty” Veronica adds, smirking.

“For some strange reason I want to call them hobo and bride of hobo” Cheryl said laughing.

Jug glares at Cheryl.

“Whatever,” he said rolling his eyes.

They finally make it to their destination and Betty slowly opens the door. “Hello” She said.

She then sees a man with a little more than average height and brunette hair jump all the way of his chair.

“I’m sorry.” She said as she opened the door the rest of the way. “Didn’t mean to startle you.” she adds.

“That’s okay.........” he was saying before he stopped dead in his tracks. “Sweet baby Jesus” he said looking at all of them.

“Are you Kevin?” Betty asked.

“I am..... Holy fuck.” He said, blinking his eyes over and over. Trying to see if he’s really seeing what he’s seeing.

“Are you okay?” she asked as the others watched him curiously.

“I’m okay. Just a little surprised is all” he said as he sat back down, afraid his legs would give out on him.

“Umm. Okay” Betty said as she didn’t know how to reply to him.

“So I’m guessing you know us, then?” Jug asked.

“Well, I did” he said as he let out a soft laugh.

“What does that mean?” He asked.

“That’s a story for a different time.” He said nervously.

The others did take notice of that.

“How do you know us?” Archie asked, hoping he would answer this time.

“Went to school with you guys.” He said,

“Same grade?” Cheryl asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Hmm” Veronica said .

“It was an amazing time,” he said, smiling at the memories.

“How so?” Betty asked.

“Well. I was on the Blue and Gold with you and Jug. Cheryl and Ron were on the cheer leading team called the River Vixens.” He said.

“I was the HBIC,” Cheryl said.

He laughed “That you were.” he said, laughing. “Archie was the captain of the football team,” he adds.

“Did I box?” Archie asked.

“No. You did sing though and were very good at it. Why?” He asked.

“I have a very clear memory of me boxing.” He said,

“Oh. I don’t know. Not that I had seen anyways” he said.

Archie frowned.

“I didn’t grow up with you guys, did I?” Veronica asked.

“No. You came to town, junior year of high school” he said “your dad was in jail” he adds.

“He’s a mobster. Isn’t he?” she asked.

“There were rumors about him. But never any proof. You didn’t have a very good relationship with him.” he said.

“Oh. I remember him and I having a great relationship. It was my mom who I didn’t get along with.” Veronica said.

“Interesting” he noted.

“So, What we remember happening and what you say happened are different,” Jug said.

“That’s what I’m noticing, what do you remember?” Kevin asked him.

“I lived with my mother and sister, but my father wasn't in the picture.” Jug said.

“Oh” he said “Umm... that’s not correct. You lived with your father. Your mother left your father and took your sister with her many years ago” he said.

Jug frowned. He’s getting very annoyed. What he thought happened were lies. Everything is a lie. He sighed. Betty took his hand and it seemed to calm him down a bit.

“Well this is some crazy shit.” Cheryl said.

“You haven’t heard crazy it.” He said “Cheryl, my mythic bitch. Your father killed your brother. Tried to blame Jughead's father. He killed himself because he was trafficking drugs. Your mother is a lady of the night. If you get my drift.” He said.

“Oh my god.” Cheryl said.

“I’m not done. Betty is your cousin. Her father is a blossom. That didn’t come out until your brother got her sister pregnant. Then her father sent her sister away. He became a serial killer who killed a few of our friends and family. Your sister Betty came back and convinced your mother to join a cult.” He said.

Everyone’s mouth is opened in shock.

“Wow.” Cheryl said.

“Umm” Betty said, not sure what to say.

“What the fuck?” Jug said in disbelief.

“That’s not the best part. Jug, you and Betty are together and have been together for years. You also share a brother. Her mother and his father had a love child when they were in high school” Kevin said.

“Wait... What?” Jughead said.

“We share a brother?” she said sighing “Why can’t I remember that? Why do our memory’s come in fragments? The real question I have is: You said we went to school together, right?” She adds.

Kevin nods.

“Why do you look older than us? How old are you?” She asked.

He didn’t know if he should tell them. He had a feeling she wouldn’t let it go. Just as he remembered her, she never backed down until she knew the truth.

“I don’t think it’s wise,” he said.

“You know more than we do. Please tell us what you know” Betty said, pleading with him.

“See. The thing is” he said as he looked at each and every one of them. “umm”” he said.

“Just say it already.” Cheryl said.

“The five of you” he sighed as he was finally about to say it. “You died five years ago.”

Everyone stayed silent for a few minutes trying to comprehend what Kevin had told them.

Veronica broke the silence.“Um Excuse me?” she asked.

Cheryl and Betty started to laugh.

“That’s a good one,” Archie said.

“Are we being punked?” Cheryl asked.

“You think we believe that we died.” Veronica said. “We are literally standing right here” she adds laughing.

“You’re crazy if you think we believe that,” Betty said.

Jughead just watches the reaction on his face. Something is telling him he’s telling the truth. But what he’s saying doesn’t make any sense. This is one of the mysteries that needs to be solved.

“Come on guys. We need to get back to our rooms before we get caught” Veronica said to the others.

“Bye Kevin.” Betty said,

And they all left him.

What did he think would happen when he told them that they died? Who’s going to believe him? He shakes his head and sits back down and watches the screen to make sure they all arrive in their room without any incident.


	6. Chapter 6

Antoinete Topaz was just living day by day, nothing had really gone her way since she lost the love of her life, but she's making do and trying her best. She works during the day at Pop’s and bar tends at night at a local bar called the Whyt Wyrm. She has been in a biker gang called the Southside Serpents since she was 15. Nights when she's not working she spends it with her friends, who have become her family. Sweet Pea, who leads the serpents, Fangs and Kevin. She was an ordinary girl in an ordinary world, until the day her life changed… again. 

One morning Pea called her asking her to join him on a run, and he was picking something up from Sunset Meadows. She didn’t think anything of it because he often does this. He hates doing things alone. Sometimes she wonders how he manages as the Serpent King. 

Toni and Pea walk into the front door of Sunset Meadows. They are picking up something from a nurse and taking it to another location. They have to make money somehow, this is one of their side businesses. 

As they wait for her to meet up with them, Toni sees something she never thought she would see. Pea notices that she froze and follows her line of sight. His mouth drops open in shock. 

“Oh my god, Pea?” Toni said. “Do you see this?” she asked.

“I see” he said, in disbelief. 

“I don’t understand,” she said. 

“I don’t know, um. What the fuck” he said. 

“Cheryl, Jones?” Toni said. 

Two people turn and look at them and they turn back to what they were doing. A nurse comes over and hands them a package, “We need to go.” Pea said as he started out the door. 

“But-” Toni said. 

“I know, T. I… uh… we… we need to get out of here.” he said as he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out. 

They made it back to their van and sat quietly, trying to figure out if what they saw was real. 

“That was Cheryl,” Toni said. 

“It sure looked like her.” Pea said as he tried to calm his nerves. He was shaking and he didn’t understand why. 

Toni wanted to cry. That was 100% Cheryl. The love of her life and standing next to her was her best friend Jughead. “I feel sick," she said as she opened the door and vomited on the side of the van. 

“Are you okay?” he asked, knowing the answer was no.

Toni let out a soft chuckle. “Not even the slightest” she said as she got back in the van.

“I need a drink.” Pea said, 

“Same, head to the Wyrm.” Toni said as she pulled out her phone and started to look at old pictures. 

~

It’s been a week since their findings at Sunset Meadows, and Toni hasn’t slept. She needs to know what is going on. Pea is very close to forcing her to sleep. She knows he means well, but now is not the time for sleep. Now is the time for answers. It frustrates her that he isn’t trying to find them. He assures her he is, but she feels he isn’t doing enough. It’s making her crazy. 

Toni took the van and headed back to Sunset Meadows. She didn’t tell anyone she was leaving. Pea would have stopped her and she's not in the mood for him right now. She would have to listen to his orders since he is the King after all. 

Toni breaks into the back of the building, steals some nurse scrubs and goes and tries to find one of them. She needs to make sure she isn't crazy.

This place is so boring, she thought as she walked down the hallway. Everything was white. It could use some pink. She makes it to the large room at the end of the hall. She is not sure what it is. She stops when she sees him, her friend from many years ago. Jughead Jones. 

Toni waves at him to come to where she was at. 

“Hello” He said to her. 

“Hi” she smiled. “Do you recognize me?” she asked him.

He shakes his head no.

“Thought so. I’m Toni” she said.

“Hi Toni.” He said as he looked around “I bet you know me though. Huh?” He said.

Hmm, she thought, It looks like he doesn't know what's going on either. “I do!” She said “I know the others as well” she adds.

He smiles. 

“What do they call you?” she asked.

"Forsythe," he replied.

“Ahh. Your real name," she said.

“Do I go by Jughead?” he asked as he looked around. She’s not sure what he's looking for. She suspects he's not trying to get caught. 

“Yeah. That’s your nickname.” Toni said “okay, I can’t stay long. I don’t want them to catch on to me. But I will be back. Jug. Don’t trust anyone but you and the others. Okay?” She said.

“Why should I trust you?” He asked her.

She pulled down her shirt and he saw it. She showed him her Serpent tattoo, she knows he has one and the others have one as well, she hopes it shows him she could be trusted.

“It’s a serpent,” she said, noticing the confusion on his face. She started to walk away. She turns to him and smiles. She then walks out of the room.

~

The next day Toni goes back. This time she convinces Pea to go with her. He does fight her when she makes him put on scrubs. She wins because they need to blend in and this is the only way to do it. Toni goes in the same way that she did before. The door in the back of the building. It's off the kitchen and she assumes it's for deliveries. 

This time she grabs a clip bored. She wants to make sure they look like they belong. She takes Pea down the same hallway as she walked the day before. 

“This place is so bland.” he said. 

Toni laughed. “Right, it needs color in the worst way.” she said as she stopped when she saw the redhead who haunts her dreams walk by. Toni reaches out and grabs her arm. 

“Excuse me!” Cheryl said as she pulled back quickly. 

“Cheryl,” Toni said.

“That’s my name.” she said matter of factly.

“I’m Toni and this is Pea,” Toni said, pointing to Pea who stood next to her. He seemed to be still in shock. 

“Don’t care,” Cheryl said as she started to walk away.

“Yes you do,” Toni said.

“Toni. Be nice” pea said.

“Who are you?” Cheryl asked them.

“I’m a friend... Do you know where Jug is?” she asked.

“No clue who that is.” Cheryl said.

“Umm... Forsythe," Toni said, realizing they had no idea what their nicknames were.

“Oh. He’s in recovery.” Cheryl said she frowned and then seemed deep in thought. 

“Umm. Okay?” Toni asked. What is recovery? It sounds bad. 

“It’s a place where you go when you get caught doing something they don’t approve of.” Cheryl told them.

“I see.” Toni said. Sunset Meadows version of a time out. 

“How old are you?” Pea asked, interrupting Toni.

“Pea!!” Toni said as he shrugged his shoulders. She wouldn’t mind knowing the answer but felt it was a little too early to ask. 

“I’m 17. Why?” Cheryl asked back.

“Just wondering.” Pea said, as he looked at Toni. Pea shook his head and Toni turned her attention back to Cheryl. 

That is a 5 year difference between them, she is even more confused now.

“I feel like I know you,” Cheryl told them.

“Because you do” Toni said with a soft smile, she doesn’t want to frighten her. There’s a noise and they all look down the hall.

“We need to go. Toni.” Pea said.

“Okay.” she replied to him. She looks at Cheryl and hands her something. “Take this. Show the others and only trust the 5 of you” Toni said and pea started to pull her away. “I’m going to come back for you” she adds yelling.

~

A couple of days have passed and she gets Kevin to agree to go work as a guard there. He does it only because she wouldn't let it go. 

She sneaks in once again and comes across Archie this time.

“Hey” she said. 

“Your the one that keeps coming back to her for us” he said, 

“I am,” she said. 

“Please get us out of here.” he said,

“I’m working on it,” she told him. 

Archie sighed. “I don’t trust this place” he said as he turned around and looked to see if anyone was there. 

“I don’t either and I need you to trust me when I say I’m getting you out of here, I'm going to get you out of here.” she said. 

Archie nods. 

“Will you give this to Cheryl please?” she asked Archie, handing him a note she pulled out of her pocket. 

“Of course.” he said. 

“Thank you. I will be back soon.” she said. She didn’t spend much time there, she didn’t want to let on that there was a stranger roaming around. 

~

The next morning Toni is researching on her laptop when Kevin comes through the door. Kevin lives with his boyfriend Fangs. Toni and Pea stayed over so they could see him first thing when he came home. They already knew he would have questions, that neither of them had answers to. 

Kevin throws his bag down and sits on the sofa. “You know, when you said you saw them. I thought you meant like you saw someone who looked similar to them. My god toni, they are identical in every way” Kevin said.

“Oh i know. I lost my shit when I saw them. I couldn’t believe my eyes.” She said.

“I don’t understand what’s going on.” Kevin said “they have their memories. Well sort of.” He adds.

“Yeah. Like bits and pieces.... they know their real names but not their nicknames” she said.

“They're the age they were when they died,” Pea said.

“They look that age too” Kevin said as he sighed. “Brought back many memories of high school” he sighed. 

Fangs came out of their bedroom and gave Kevin a kiss as he sat down next to him. “Morning babe” fangs said to him. 

“Morning my love” Kevin said.

Toni smiles at the exchange. She misses that. 

“Is it them?” Fangs asked. 

“It looks like them, that’s all I know right now.” Kevin said. 

“Something weird is going on at the place,” Pea said.

“My brain hurts,” toni said “ we went to all of their funerals.” She adds. 

“We saw the bodies,” Pea said. “There’s no way anyone could have survived that,” he adds. 

“It’s like an episode of the twilight zone” fangs chuckled.

“You know this isn’t a laughing matter.” Toni said glaring at him.

“I’m well aware,” he said.

“So, i may have done something bad.” Kevin said.

“What would that be?” Toni asked him.

“Well, I may have told them they had died 5 years ago," he said looking at the ceiling, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone because he knew Toni was going to be a little upset.

“Kevin!!’” Toni yelled “Why would you do that?” She adds, asking.

“Betty was being pushy and she wasn’t letting anything go during our talk and it just came out.... Do you remember how she was? She still acts like that” he said shaking his head at the thought.

Toni rolled her eyes. She remembers all too well how Betty was. They didn’t get along very well at first. It didn’t help that Toni was trying to get with Jughead. Toni learned a hard lesson one day. You don’t mess with Betty's, especially if your name is Jughead. 

“It’s not like they believed me anyways,” he said.

“Would you. It sounds crazy” she said.

Kevin nods in agreement. “So, What’s next? What are we going to do?” Kevin asked.

“I’m waiting to hear back from some people that Hogeye knows. I guess they’ve dealt with sunset meadows, before.” Toni said.

“What exactly is Sunset Meadows” fangs asked.

“It’s a rehabilitation place that deals with addiction and disorders.” Toni said.

“Oh... that’s weird. I wonder what they are in for” fangs said.

“I’m not sure,” she said.

“I can check when I go to work again,” Kevin said.

“Shits still crazy, man.” Fangs said, as he was still trying to process everything.

“For sure,” pea said.

“We need to figure this out quickly. We need to get them out of there as quickly as we can.l” she said.

“And do what..... oh hey parents. We found your dead kids alive after all these years and they haven’t aged a bit” pea said rolling his eyes. 

“Really” she said, getting rather annoyed with him. 

“Sorry” He said. 

“To be honest. I don’t know what to do” she sighed. “There's a new job opening there and I was hoping Fangs could apply so we can have two people helping them from the inside” Toni said. 

“I’m not opposed.” Fangs said. 

“Good, it's an online application. I'll send it to you and then we can go from there.” she said. 

Fangs nods.

“Now we look into who runs the place, and the answers lay within them.” Pea said. 

“Wow” Fangs said. 

“What?” Toni asked,

“I have a job interview in 2 hours. But the email I just got was basically telling me I got the job. It was signed by Edgar Evernever.” Fangs said. 

“That was fast.” Pea laughed. 

“Yeah and It will work in our favor.” she said. 

“How so?” Pea asked. 

Toni smirked. “I have a plan, I will tell you when I fine tune it” she said,

“Fine, but make sure you run it past me first. I think you forget I’m the boss” he said. 

“No I don’t” she scoffed. 

Pea rolled his eyes. 

Toni went back to her computer. Who is Edgar Evernever?

~

A few days later she goes back to Sunset Meadows. They are still looking into Edgar, it’s a long list they must go through, 

She takes with her their senior yearbook. She wants them to look at it and maybe it will bring some of those lost memories back. Anything helps at this point. 

Toni goes in the way she always goes and puts on the scrubs and heads back to the area where she sees them the most, It must be the common area. 

“Toni” 

“Jones” she said, as she turned around when she heard her name. 

“Is that like my last name?” he asked.

“Yeah it is. How are you doing?” She asked him. She frowned, he looked tired.

He smiled.“It’s been a rather odd few days.” He said. “Is it true? What he said?” He asked her.

She hands him a book, instead of answering his question. Because she doesn't have an answer. She knows what she sees and she remembers what she saw.

“What is this?” he asked. 

“This is our yearbook from senior year. Maybe it will help answer some questions” she said.

He looks at the book. Riverdale high 2019 “So are we 17 or are we 22?” He asked.

“I don’t know.” she said.

He just stared at her in confusion, she doesn’t blame him. She's just as confused. 

“Look. Meet with them. Show them this. I’m working on getting you guys out of here. I have someone else on the inside now. His name is Fangs. He will look out for you when Kevin isn’t here” she said “I have to go” she adds.

“Wait. Why can’t we go with you now?” He asked.

“You think it’s just that easy to walk 5 of you out of here all at once.” She said, laughing. 

Jughead sighed. “I guess you’re right,” he said.

“I’m always right.” She said she tells Pea this all the time and it makes her smile.

“You sound like Cheryl,” he laughed.

She smiles at her name. She misses Cheryl so much that it hurts.

“Anyways. I promise. I will eventually get you guys out of here.” she said as she took his hand and squeezed it. 

“Okay” he nods. “And Toni.” He said.

“Yes?” She said, turning around.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Of course.” She said as she watched him walk away.

Toni heads home. She is tired. It's been a long few weeks and there is still so much to do.


	7. Chapter 7

After leaving the guards office and talking with Kevin, they all are walking back to their assigned rooms. Elizabeth is with Veronica, Forsythe is with Archibald and Cheryl by herself. All down the same hall but separated by other rooms. They are laughing and talking about what Kevin just told them.

“Shh," Veronica said.

Everyone became quiet, she's right. They are too loud. They walk silently now.

Forsythe turns his head when he hears a noise. He sees nothing and goes back to thinking about everything. He is always thinking and the biggest thing right now is that he is unsure of the whole situation. It’s bugging him to no extent. Elizabeth saw his facial expressions and sighed. She pokes him to get his attention. He looks at her and she smiles. She grabs his face and brings it down to hers and she kisses him hard on the lips. He gulps. The sensation is overwhelming and it brings back feelings of hope. After everything he’s heard today. This is what he needed and deep down she knew this. It’s why she did it. She smiles and then he smiles back at her. This kiss goes on for what seems like forever.

Forsythe pulls away suddenly.

“We need to check with Mr EverNever's office. Something has got to be in there about us.” He said hurriedly like he needed to get it out before he forgot. You never know in a place like this.

“Wow, that’s what you’re thinking about in the middle of our moment.” She giggled lightly.

“It’s Forsythe, what do you expect?” Cheryl said.

“Hey!” He said as he rolled his eyes at the red head.

He then leans down very close to Elizabeth.

“It’s not that. I just want to figure this out so we can leave and I can kiss you properly” he smirked against her ear. She grinned and kissed him again. They soon reached her room.

“Bye juggie” She said as she kissed him again.

“Bye princess” he said.

She smiles at that and her and Veronica goes inside and shuts the door.

“If you two are like this now. I can only imagine how you guys were," Cheryl laughed. “ toodles boys” she said as she left to go to her single room.

“She is something else” Forsythe said as he shook his head. It’s hard to believe that he was friends with someone like that. He feels her personality doesn't fit his. He shrugs it off, there's nothing he can do about it and there are more important things to deal with.

“Agreed,” Archibald said.

The boys then left to go to their room.

A few days later,

They have been keeping a low profile for a few days. Trying to be the good little patients they are not. Because of all the sneaking they have been doing they just don’t want to give them a chance at getting caught, there is still so much to uncover here.

“Green group, reminder to be in the Sunshine room at 2 pm today. Thanks” a voice on the intercom said.

“I really hate that room.” Veronica said, laying her head on the cold surface of the table, she had a headache coming on and this place is making it worse right now.

They are at lunch and are being watched more closely than ever. It’s making them more nervous.

“I feel the same,” Elizabeth said.

A nurse comes over to their table. “Forsythe. You aren’t eating. Everything alright?” she asked as she wrote something down in her note book.

“Yeah. My stomach is a little upset” he said.

“Alright. I’ll make note of it today. But you will need to eat for dinner” she said as she continued to write down things.

He nods and she leaves.

They look at him.

“I just don’t want to wait an hour before I leave. There’s something I need to check before we hit our group session” he told the group.

“Okay. Be careful” Betty said.

“Always” He said as she kissed her goodbye.

Their kisses or getting more frequent and more and more so called memories are coming back. He walks away from them and heads down the hall. A few minutes later he’s stopped by the pink haired woman. He saw her a few minutes ago and knew he needed to find her and speak to her.

“Toni?” He said.

“Jones,” she said.

“Is that like my last name?” he asked.

“Yeah.... how are you doing?” She asked.

“It’s been a rather odd few days.” He said. “Is it true? What he said?” He asked her.

Toni didn’t answer him. She just hands him a book.

“What is this?” he asked.

“This is our yearbook from senior year. Maybe it will help answer some questions.” she said.

He looks at the book. Riverdale high 2019 “So are we 17 or are we 22?” He asked.

“I don’t know.” she said.

He just stared at her in confusion.

“Look. Meet with them. Show them this. I’m working on getting you guys out of here. I have someone else on the inside now. His name is Fangs. He will look out for you when Kevin isn’t here” she said “I have to go” she adds. “I've been here too long”.

“Wait. Why can’t we go with you now.?” He asked.

“Do you think it’s just that easy to walk five of you out of here.” She said, laughing.

“I guess you’re right,” he said.

“I’m always right.” She said.

“You sound like Cheryl,” he grinned.

She smiles at her name. “Anyways. I promise. I will eventually get you guys out of here.” she said.

“Okay.... and Toni” He said.

“What?” She said, turning around.

“Thank you!” he said as he smiled softly.

“Of course.” She said as she left.

He goes back to looking at the book. He opens it up. And the first thing he sees is a picture. It’s of the five of them. And it says **IN MEMORIAM** at the top and the names. **Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Cooper, Forsythe ‘jughead’ Jones, Veronica Lodge, Archibald ‘Archie’ Andrews and Cheryl Blossom.** are written below it.

Holy fuck. He needs to get into that office more than ever now. The answers lay within. He heads back to his room to put this up. He will meet with them tonight about this. He wonders what else is in this book.

Later that night they agreed to meet up in Betty and Veronica’s room. Jughead wants to show them the yearbook Toni gave him earlier that day. He’s quite intrigued by it. There’s So much to see. He hasn’t gone through the whole book yet. As he sits on his bed all He really just wants to take them and leave this place. But Toni’s right. They have to plan this accordingly.

He smiles at a memory of them. He remembers her showing him around the school.

_“Forsythe Pendleton Jones the third” she said._

_Wow. That name is a mouthful, he thought._

_“It’s just Jughead,” he said as he put on his beanie, after taking it off when he went through the metal detectors._

_She laughed. When she saw the look he gave her. He doesn't want to be here and she knows it._

_“I’m Toni Topaz and I’ll be your tour guide on this wonderful sunny day” she said._

_He rolled his eyes._

_“Welcome to south side high” She said._

_“Oh Fun” he said as they walked together through a school that looked so rundown he’s pretty sure it shouldn’t be open._

  
Many more questions come out of that memory. So, if he’s at southside high, why is he in Riverdale's high yearbook? What if she lied? But she knew about their memories coming back. So, why would she lie about that? Another question to add to the great mystery of their life.

It’s not helping that He’s been pretty agitated since their group session with the doctor. He was acting very strange today and wouldn’t leave them alone. Pushing them. Making them talk about their feelings and emotions. He just played along. Just like the others. Eventually the session ended and his mood went back to somewhat normal. What is normal for him though?

Forsythe has an overactive imagination to begin with so his mind is racing around a lot of possible scenarios. He couldn’t even fathom having these be real. They made no sense. But what makes sense when you’re told you’ve died.

One good thing out of the session today was the doctor informed them they had to switch days for the next session. He will be out of the building for a few days. That made him smile. He could get into his office then. Hopefully he won't go crazy before then.

Finally it’s time to meet the girls. He and Archie leave their room. They walk quickly and quietly through the halls. Once they arrived at the girls room, it opened up. Betty was waiting for him.

She pulled him in for a kiss. He instantly calmed down.

“Hi," she breathed.

“Hi,” he said back.

“Y’all are too cute and it’s sickening” Cheryl said as she walked through the door and sat down on the bed.

He rolled his eyes. She does that quite often recently. “So, Toni came and saw me today. Informed me that someone else is working here that is going to help us. His name is Fangs” he said.

“Oh. I think I saw him in the common area. He looked like umm. I think she called him Pea?” Cheryl said.

“What’s with these names?” Veronica chuckled.

“Right!” Cheryl laughed. “Archibald and Forsythe.” she adds.

Again, he rolled his eyes.“Who knows” Forsythe shrugged. “Also, she handed me this” he said as he pulled out the yearbook that he had kept in his bag that he hid behind his bed.

“Riverdale high 2019” Archie said “so this was supposedly 5 years ago?” he said.

“So they say,” Jughead said. “It’s all so crazy and some of it seems unbelievable.” he adds.

“Yeah.” Archie frowned as he tried to wrap his brain around everything.

Veronica takes the book and opens it up and all three girls gasp at what they see.

“Yeah. That was my reaction to” Jughead said.

“I don’t understand,” Betty said.

Jughead pulled her closer. She was almost sitting on top of him.

Veronica starts to flip the pages. After the **IN MEMORIAM** page there’s a page dedicated to each of them. Pictures and accomplishments.

\- **Elizabeth “Betty”Cooper**. Editor of the Blue and Gold. RiverVixen and Junior and Senior Prom Queen. Sss  
\- **Veronica Lodge**. River Vixen. Senior Class President  
\- **Archibald “Archie” Andrews**. Captain of the Bulldogs. Riverdale choir. Sss  
\- **Cheryl Blossom**. Captain of the River Vixens. Senior Class Vice President. RiverVixen Theater Group. Sss  
- **Forsythe “Jughead” Jones** \- member of the Blue and Gold. Junior and Senior Prom  
King. Sss

“What is Sss?” Veronica asked. “I’m the only one without it.” She adds.

“I don’t know,” Betty said.

“We look happy here” Archie said as he pointed to a picture of all of them sitting around a table with each other, smiling and laughing.

They look at Cheryl who’s frozen in place and made a small noise.

“What’s wrong Cher?” Betty asked.

“I remember something. I’m a lesbian and I came out to Toni. She was my light in my world of darkness. She helped me become a better person. I think I was a bitch” she laughed. “These pictures of us. We are together. Just like you guys. She’s my person. I think , No, I know I love her. I can feel it in my bones.” Cheryl said in tears. “Why didn’t she tell me?” She asked.

“She probably didn’t want to scare you.” Betty said and she got up and hugged Cheryl.

“I’m tired of being in the dark. We know nothing” Veronica said “it’s getting old. Why don’t we just walk out.” She adds as Archie takes her hand.

“Because. We need to be smart about this Ron.” Jughead said “there is something going on here. That’s obvious. We aren’t who we think we are. Before we leave, we need to get in that office. We need our files. That should help us fill the blanks” he said.

“Ugh” Veronica threw her head back in frustration. Archie leaned down and kissed her to calm her down. Which seems to work.

“Toni said she’s working on some things and will be helping us to leave and that we just need to be patient.” He said.

“Patience is not my strong suit” Veronica laughed.

“I’m learning this,” he chuckled back.

Jughead looks at the book again. Sss. It’s starting to come to him. “Wait!!” He said.

“What is it?” Betty asked.

“Sss. SouthSide serpents?” He said.

“That sounds Right” Archie said.

“Now all we need to do is figure out what that is” jughead said.

“Could it do with our tattoos?” Archie asked. “Veronica is the only one that doesn’t have one and she doesn’t have SSS by her name” he adds.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” Jughead said.

“Makes sense.” Betty adds.

They all agree and they all seem to be in a lighter mood now that they answered their own question. They continue to look through the book looking at the past they know nothing about.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola, hope you enjoy it.   
> ~  
> :)

1 week later. 

Jughead has been waiting for this day. The day where they hopefully find answers to who they are? and why are they here? It’s taking everything he has not to come here before. He knows that would have been a bad idea. But today, today is the day when the doctor will be out. As he walks quietly to Dr. Evernever's office, he runs right into Betty, knocking her to the ground. 

“I’m sorry” he said as he helped her off the ground. 

“Thanks,” she said. “What are you doing? You're normally not down this hall.” Betty asked him curiously.

“Remember I’m going to Dr. EverNever’s office.” He told her.

“Oh, that’s right. Can I come?” she asked “I know how to get in locked doors.” she grinned.

He looked at her confused. What did she mean by that? He wondered. 

“Yeah. I don’t know. I remember something about Nancy Drew and breaking into a teacher's car once, I think Veronica was with me.” she shrugged.

He chuckled, “ I need to know more about that story,” he said.

“I know, only if I could remember it.” she frowned. 

“Hey, we will figure this all out.” he said to her as he cupped her face. She smiles and nods at him. She feels comfort in his touch. She does know that much. 

They head down the hall and soon they stand in front of his door. She pulled out a Bobby-pin from her hair and started to pick the lock. 

“You amaze me” he said softly to her as she leaned up to kiss him. He pulled back. “I’m surprised they allow you to have that, we don't have a lot of personal products, or any at all.” he said, 

“I don’t know, It just showed up in my drawer in our bathroom,” she said as she shrugged her shoulders. 

“Interesting.” he said.

Betty just smiled at him. 

Jughead looks up and down the hallway and makes sure there is nobody around to see them. When the coast is clear they head all in and shut the door and she looks around the office.

Betty is amazed. There’s a lot of awards up on the wall. She wonders how many are fabricated. She honestly feels like he's a fake doctor. That’s just her opinion. 

The first thing Jughead does is heads to his desk. He sits down and starts going through the file in the drawers. “This place has a lot of accolades,” he said. As he starts reading some newspaper clippings he finds. “This place was a drug treatment facility until Dr Evernever took it over 6 years ago.” Jughead said.

Betty laughed. “He made it seem like this place was in his family for many years” Betty said.

“Yeah I know, first lie.” he said. “According to this he acquired it after the previous owner died of a sudden heart attack.”He said.

“Sudden? That doesn’t sound fishy at all.” She said as she opened a cabinet and started going through it.

“Wow” jughead said.

“What is it?” Betty asked as she turned to look at him, He's still looking at the papers. 

“Dr EverNever has a PhD in Psychology, a masters degree in genetic engineering and a masters in bioethics” he said. 

“Wow! That seems like a lot. How old is he?” She asked.

“He graduated high school at 12.” he said in amazement.

“So he’s smart” she chuckled. Her opinion on him being a fake doctor has been disputed,

“Very and he’s only 33.” He said “ and working on his second PhD.” he adds.

“Is that even possible?” she asked, “this doesn't add up, who has the time for that.” she adds. 

“Yeah, I think so. And it just takes a long time, you have to have patience.” He said.

“I guess.” she shrugged as she turned back to what she was doing. “It looks like he keeps everything.” she adds. 

“Yeah, I've noticed, that’s why we will figure out, I have a feeling he is his own worst enemy.” he said.

“Yeah, But why does he need all that? What’s he trying to prove anyways and if he’s that smart why is he here, running this place. It seems like a waste of talent if you asked me.” She scoffed.

“Exactly, another question that needs to be added to our list.” he laughed “ Will you copy these on the copier” he asked her. 

“Of course” she said, closing her drawer and heading to where he was at, grabbing the papers and walking to the copier.

“Hmm.... according to this interview he did for Medicine Weekly in 2019. After he bought Sunset Meadows, he turned a part of it into a laboratory.” he said. 

“Why, that has nothing to do with rehabilitation and drug and addictions, unless he was making them.” she said.

“Right, but it says so he can work on his studies of genetic transfer and gene therapy” he said.

“This is weird, Juggie,” she said.

He smiles at the nickname. He remembers it clearly now. She has always called him Juggie, others call him Jug or Jughead, He sometimes goes by Boss or Jones. Many different names. His favorite was Juggie, because it came from her. The girl he suspects he is in love with. “What’s weird is the amount of articles he has on a sheep named Dolly,” he said. 

“Dolly?” she questioned. Another thing that made no sense.

“Hold up.” he said as he put up his hand. “Um. What is Veronica’s last name?” he asked. 

“Lodge I believe. Why?” She said as she finished copying the pages he asked for. 

“Here’s an article about business tycoon Hiram Lodge donating 10 million dollars to Sunset Meadows in 2019 to honor his late daughter” he said.

“Oh.” she said. 

“Here’s one on the Blossom Estate donating 5 million in 2019” he adds. 

“That’s Cheryl’s last name” she said “Interesting” she adds.

“I thought so too,” He said, handing her the papers to copy. “These too please.” he said to her as he smiled at her. She nods. 

“ Fred Andrews of Andrews construction filed a lawsuit against Edgar Evernever. Says he never fulfilled his obligations in 2020.The lawsuit was dismissed after Mr Andrews was found dead inside his home.” He said.

“That’s Archie's father” she said, “This keeps getting weirder” she said, shaking her head. This is not what she thought they were going to find when they came in here today. 

He nods.

“It looks like he’s kept every article that has mentioned his name or this place. He's been named in a number of lawsuits, but it looks like they were dropped shortly after. Oh, he fired all of his employees in March of 2020.” he said.

“Why?” she asked. 

“No one know. It seems like everyone that works in Sunset Meadows Laboratories must sign a non disclosure agreement” he said. 

“My brain is hurting, Juggie” she laughed. “This is so much to process.” she adds. 

He chuckled “Just keep making copies. We need all this to show the others.” He said, as he handed more to her. He needs to find a place to keep this all at. Don’t really want to get caught with it.

She nods.

“Okay. here’s another one. Maybe dealing with my family now. FP Jones, convicted of felony assault, was sentenced to 3 years in jail. He supposedly went after Edgar, claiming that he took his son.” Jughead said “Witnesses claimed the man was drunk and he’s a known Alcoholic.” he adds. 

Betty arched her brow “So other than our deaths. Something major happened around that time in 2019” she said.

He nods   
“Alice Cooper, Mother of Elizabeth Cooper, married Edgar Evernever in June of 2020. Filed for divorce 2 months later then disappears with her other daughter” he said. 

“What the fuck!!” She said.

“Our parents are connected to him. But why? “Jughead said as he threw his head back in Aggravation “I thought there would be answers in this room.” He adds. “Only more questions,” he said. 

“There is, Jughead. This room is like a puzzle. We have to put the pieces together to solve it and see the big picture” she smiled.

“I know. I was hoping I didn’t have to work for it” he laughed. 

“Oh juggie” she said as she walked towards him.

He looks back down at the stack of papers in his hand “Holy fuck” he said.

“What?” she asked. 

“This headline takes the cake. Riverdale mourns the loss of 5 teens, killed in a fiery crash on interstate 210 last night” he gasped.

“Is that about us?” she said. 

“Yeah. Our names are listed. It also states that it was a single car accident and no foul play was involved. This was dated March of 2019” he said.

“Let me see!” she said as she grabbed for the paper he was holding. She started to read it. A tear falls down her face. “Oh god... there’s no way anyone could survive that car crash, I mean look at that car” she said.

“That’s not it” he said pointing to a person in the last picture of the crash site.

“Is that Edgar?” she asked as she looked closer at the picture.

“Looks like it,” he said.

“Juggie,” she said looking down at him. 

“Yes princess” he said.

“I’m scared,” she said.

He pulled her into his lap and gave her a tight hug.

“Me too baby... me too” he said. 

As Betty and Jughead sit silently in the office of Doctor Evernever. He’s holding on to her. They just saw a picture of a car crash that they supposedly died in and he was there. Why would he be there then? He didn’t know them. So many questions without the answers they are looking for.

Betty gets up and goes over and looks out the window. It’s sunny outside today. She would love to go outside, she doesn’t remember the last time she has felt the warmth on her skin.

Jughead is still going through his desk. “Something has to be here.” He said.

“We’ve learned a lot juggie.” Betty said as she turned looking around the room. “Hmm” She said.

“What?” He asked.

“There’s a computer... we can google him.” She said.

“That’s a good idea. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of that.” He chuckled. 

“Because I’m the smart one” Betty grinned. 

Jughead shook his head, he couldn’t get over how adorable she is. “I’ll continue to go through the papers,” he said.

“Okay. I’ll just google his name and see what comes up," she said as she sat on his lap and started to type in his name and lots of stuff came up. “There’s a lot here. Juggie," she adds.

“Go through them all,” he said.

She nods.

“Okay. It looks like 10 years ago he tried filing a drug called Cluazob 13 with the FDA and was denied” she said.

“Does it say what the drug was?” He asked, turning his attention to her and the computer. 

“ Let’s see. Umm. It’s supposed to accelerate cells and tissues in to a rapid growth” she said.

“Hmm” He said.

“After He was denied he tried many different ways to get it approved and after 5 years he suddenly stopped and bought this place.”she said. 

They both stopped dead in their tracks when the door to the office slowly opened. It’s too soon for Edger to be back. They are both tensed up, they are caught and everything is over. But to their surprise Cheryl was the one that walked in. 

“Hello lovely’s” She said.

“You scared me,” Betty chuckled. 

“I tend to do that.” Cheryl grins. “So what’s up?” she asked.

“So much.” Betty said as she handed her the stack of papers she had copied. 

Cheryl is starting to go through it. Engrossed in what she was reading. 

“So I found a file for each of us. All starting 5 years ago.” Jughead said.

“The year when we died?” Cheryl asked.

“Yeah.” He said as he continued.

“Oh my god.” Cheryl said.

“What is it?” both Betty and Jughead said at the same time.

“Dolly the sheep was the first animal to be cloned in 1996 from an adult cell” she said “I remember doing a report on it in biology sophomore year” she said. “It gave me the chills just thinking about that,” she said, 

Jughead and Betty both looked at her confused.

“You don’t know who Dolly is?” She laughed. “Didn’t we have the same teachers?” she adds. 

“Holy shit” Betty said.

“What” Jughead asked with a worried look.

She doesn’t say anything just shows them the computer screen. They both gasped.

“Is that-” Cheryl said as her voice hitched. 

“That’s Umm” Jughead said as he started to shake. 

“That can’t be real,” Cheryl said.

“It looked real” Jughead said looking at Betty “where did you find that?” he asked.

“I don’t know... I was just clicking and I came across the accident photos. That’s us guys. Well, it looks like us anyway.” Betty said. 

“Dead us” Cheryl said, as she frowned. She did not like what she was seeing, 

“I don’t like this,” Betty said.

Jughead pulled her into another hug and kissed her. He then looked at Cheryl who looked deep in thought. “What is it?” he asked her, still holding on to Betty tightly. 

“It’s on the tip of my tongue. I’m not sure. There is Dolly. The secret laboratory and the NDA’s. The growth drug and then us.” Cheryl said.

“Yeah, there is a lot.” Jughead said.

“What if...” she said, still thinking really hard. Betty and Jughead just watch her. “What if he’s a mad scientist and brought us back to life?” she said.

“Umm” jughead said as he looked at her like she was crazy. 

“Oh,” Betty said, “that sounds like something straight out of a movie” she said as she looked over at Jughead, who smiled at her. 

“I know it sounds crazy. But nothing makes sense anymore” Cheryl said. “It just doesn't,” she said again. 

“Right.... He was also at the crash site at the time of our accident” Betty said as she turned back to Jughead, who also looked deep in thought. 

“Jug?” She said. He didn’t do or say anything “Jug?” She said it again a little louder. He still didn’t acknowledge her. “JUG” she screamed this time. 

He finally looked up “I think Cheryl’s on to something. This file starts a month after our deaths. 2 months later there is a picture of a newborn in each of our files with our names. Then every few months there is an updated picture with the babies just slightly older.” He said showing the girls the folders.

“What if we are cloned?” He said.

Betty’s eyes grew wide in disbelief as she read through the files as Cheryl and Jughead spoke. 

“That’s some crazy shit” Cheryl shaking her head.

“Think about it. He has all these degrees in medicine. He’s very smart. The memories we started off with aren’t the same as the ones we have now.... the recovery room..... The unapproved drug.... the donations from some of our parents”

“Donations?” Cheryl asked.

“Veronica’s family and your family donated 15 million to him” he said.

“Good lord that’s a lot of money” she laughed. 

“Umm... guys,” Betty said. Both Cheryl and Jughead turn and look at her. “So, I think jughead is right? Here’s the last entry into the files. Dated 2 months ago and our pictures. Saying growth is complete.... we were made 5 years ago and he just woke us up.” Betty said.

“Made?” Cheryl said.

“According to this. He took brain tissue, blood-cells, blood and bone marrow from our parents and was somehow able to copy our DNA. That’s all it says.” Betty said as she turned and looked at Jughead.

“Did you get what you came for?” Betty asked. 

“Yeah.” He said.

“Good. Cause it’s time for us to leave this fucking place. I’m done Juggie. We are leaving now.”  
Betty said. 

“I agree with her. Let’s get Archie and Veronica and leave” Cheryl said.

“And go where?” he asked.

“As long as we are together and away from this place. Who cares?” Betty said.

“Toni?” Cheryl said. “She can help us. She has been helping us already.” she adds. 

“I’m not sure that we should trust anyone,” he said.

“We will figure it out,” Betty said.

“He will probably try to find us.” Cheryl said.

“Probably. But we will deal with that later,”Betty said. “And together.” she adds. 

“Okay” jughead said “ let's get the others before the crazy doctor from hell comes back” he adds.

Cheryl laughed. “Now that’s the spirit” She said.

Betty giggles. 

Jughead puts both girls behind him and grabs their hands. “Let’s do this,” he said as he led them out of the room. 

tbc


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola, it's cold outside and I'm over winter, even though we still have 6 more weeks of it.   
> ~  
> Enjoy  
> ~  
> xoxo  
> PB

Betty, Cheryl and Jughead are moving quickly through the halls of Sunset Meadows, trying not to be seen or heard. You never know when there is a nurse just roaming around, waiting to catch someone not where they are supposed to be.

As they walk down the halls, they have only two things in mind, to find Archie and Veronica and get the hell out of this place. 

“Where do you think they are?” Betty asked as she looked around every corner, making sure the coast was clear.

“Maybe the common room, it seems to be the place everyone goes too.” Cheryl said.

“Well, we all can't go in and then leave at the same time. It may alert the nurses.” Jughead said.

“Okay, that makes sense. I’ll go in and have them meet us by the laundry area. ” Cheryl said.

“Sounds good. We will go and find Kevin. We will probably need his help to get out of here.” Jughead said.

“Probably. I don’t see us being able to just walk right out.” Cheryl said as they stopped by the entrance to the Common area. “Be careful,” Cheryl told them.

“Same.” Betty said.

They went off in different directions. 

~

Cheryl walks into the common area and immediately sees Archie and Veronica. They are playing chess over by the window. She hurried over there trying to stay unnoticed. But she freezes when the nurse looks at her and is about to get up. Cheryl started to panic. The phone rang and the nurse sat back down to answer it. Cheryl sighed in relief. She’s glad she’s almost out of here.

“Hey Cheryl” Veronica said as she smiled when she saw her friend. 

“Umm. Listen. Meet me out in the hall in 5 minutes” she said and she turned away and walked off before they were able to say anything to her. 

Archie and Veronica look at each other, having a silent conversation and after a few minutes they both get up and leave. 

Cheryl meets then outside. 

“What’s up?” Archie asked.

“We are leaving.” Cheryl said as she looked around. Making sure there is no one there. She’s tired of looking over her shoulders. 

“Now?” Veronica asked. 

“Yes now.” Cheryl said, talking a little too loudly. She was getting excited. She turned and looked and made sure no one was around. “Oops” she said quieter. 

“Why?” Archie asked.

“No time. I will let you know when we’re out of here. We are meeting with Jug and Betty” she said as she turned around and started to walk off. When she didn’t hear any footsteps. Cheryl stops and turns. “Come on.” she adds, turning and walking off again. 

“Okay” Archie said.

Veronica grabs on to his hand. Both of them are very confused, neither of them know what is going on. They followed her nonetheless. They trust her. 

~

Jughead and Betty head to the security office looking for Kevin. They arrive at the door and it’s open just slightly.

“Psst” Betty whispered as she leaned in and saw him sitting at a computer. 

Kevin looks over at her and gets up quickly “I’ll be back” he tells the other guard who is watching something on his phone. He leaves the room and quietly shuts the door. “You guys shouldn’t be here right now.” He said. “You could be seen and everything we are working at will be useless.” he said, slightly agitated at them. He didn’t have time for them to be so careless. 

“I know and I’m sorry. But Kevin. We need to leave here. Like right now” Betty said.

“It’s not a good idea. Not until we know more about what this place is and why you are truly here.” He said.

“Listen to me Kevin.” she yelled. 

“Shh, Betty. You could alert the other guard. This is what I’m saying. Clear disregard for everything,” he said. 

“I don’t care what people hear right now. The five of us are leaving and you are helping. That’s everything, plain and simple.” she said.

He sighed. He’s still powerless against her. Betty was scary then, even scarier now. Especially when her mind is set on something. There is no convincing her otherwise. 

“Okay.” He said, knowing this was a losing battle. He would rather deal with Toni than an angry Betty. 

“We will tell you everything that we just found out later. We just need to be far away from this place.” Jughead said.

“Alright. I’m going to give you my keys. Use them to leave out the back door in the laundry room. Outside you will wait behind the dumpster. I’ll be getting Fangs and we will meet you soon after. Be quiet and quick.” He said.

“Thank you so much,” Betty said to him.

“Be safe” he tells them. 

Jughead grabs Betty’s hand and walks off. After a few minutes they are standing by the laundry room. The others are walking down the other hall almost to where they are standing. 

“You know. I haven’t seen any nurses.” Archie laughed.

“Me either. But we don’t have time to worry ourselves with that.” Jughead said. He suspects they are letting this happen but he doesn’t care about that at the moment. That’s something for a later time. 

We need to hurry” Betty said.

“What’s going on?” Veronica asked, getting very concerned with everything. She hates not knowing. It’s in her blood to know everything. 

Betty looks at her. “Dr EverNever created us from our counterparts and parents and some drugs he’s invented” she said.

“Wait. What?” Archie asked.

“He’s basically cloned us,” Cheryl said.

“So we are them, but not really?” Archie asked.

“Umm?” Veronica said.

“No.... there’s so much more to tell you but we need to leave” Betty said.

“Okay” they both said.

They all walk into the laundry and no one is there. “That’s the door Kevin said” Betty pointed at. 

They all walk over and Jughead uses the key Kevin gave him to open it up. It leads to a stairwell. They head down the stairs and leads to another door and Jughead slowly opens it and looks 

Towards the left of them there’s a dumpster area. They head over to it. 

“Eww” Veronica said, as she gagged a little. Jughead looks at her to make sure she is okay. “It smells,” she adds as she laughs. 

“Shh” Betty said “you don’t want anyone to find us” she adds.

“Do you think we have ever been outside?” Archie asked.

“I’m not sure about anything anymore” jughead frowned. He is more confused than ever, but as long as they are out of this place and together, they can deal with anything. 

“Hey” a voice said. They all turn and see fangs, standing on the front side of the dumpster. “This way” he waved. He wants them to follow him. 

There was a black van waiting for them. He ushers them in the back and shuts the door. They sit down and huddle together. All scared of the unknown. But anything’s got to be better than this. Being in a place, knowing nothing about anything. 

“It’s over,” Veronica said, as she took Archie's hand.

Jughead laughed. “It’s far from over. It’s only the beginning” he said as he pulled Betty into his lap. He needed something to stop him from going crazy. Today has been very overwhelming for him and the others and uncertainty lies ahead. 

They sit in the back of the van together. Betty and Jughead , Veronica and Archie, Cheryl is in the middle of them. They have no idea where they are going. They have put their trust in complete strangers. After a while Jughead knocks on the window. “Hey” he said when Fangs opened the window to the cab.

“What’s up?” Fangs asked

“Where are we going?” Jughead asked.

“Riverdale,” Fangs said as he turned his attention back to the road, Kevin sitting next to him in the passenger seat. 

“Where were we?” Cheryl asked.

“Greendale,” Fangs said “and before you ask, we are going to find Toni.” He added as he shut the window. 

“I’m cold” Betty said as she wrapped her arms around her torso. 

“Same,” Cheryl said as her teeth started to chatter. 

They moved closer together, trying to stay warm. The boys are wrapped around the girls. “What are we going to do when we stop?” Veronica asked.

“No clue” jughead told her.

“Hopefully they don’t kill us.” Cheryl said. They all look at her. “What?” she asked. She was only trying to look out for everyone, they still don’t really know who they are.

The rest of the ride was quiet. 

A little while later the van stops. The doors open and Kevin and Fangs stand before them.“We will be right back” Kevin said.

“Where are we?” Betty asked.

“North side of Riverdale” he answered her, then Fangs and him walked away. leaving the doors open.

“They could have left the heat on.” Cheryl said. 

Veronica laughed. “It’s so cold, and we have no jackets.” she said. 

“We could run away from them” Betty said as she wasn’t paying attention to the others, only Jughead.

“And go where?” Jughead asked. “We know nothing, Betty,” he adds. 

“I don’t know,” she said. “It was only a suggestion” she adds, getting a little irritated with him. 

“We need to have a plan before we go and do something stupid.” he said. She frowned. He’s not wrong.“Come here” He told her. She does and he holds her tightly. He sees that she’s starting to get anxious and she soon starts to relax.

Cheryl goes towards the door and looks out. “Pop's Choc Lit Shop” she said, reading the sign that was in front of her. 

“What’s that?” Veronica asked.

“A chocolate shop” Archie laughed. 

Veronica rolled her eyes.

“Let’s go find out,” Cheryl said.

“Umm” Veronica said. “But-” she adds, before being interrupted. 

“They never told us to stay,” she smirked.

The five of them got out of the van and headed towards the door of the diner. They walk inside and the door chimes. They all look around. All seem to be amazed. This is the first time they have been inside another building. 

They hear a crashing sound and look towards the noise “Oh my god” a woman said as she stared at them as she dropped her tray. The rest of the customers in the diner looked as well.

“I don’t like this'' Betty said as she moved closer to Jughead. Veronica did the same with Archie and Cheryl stayed put, she was between the two men. 

“What the hell?” another woman said, the look of shock across all of their faces. 

“They obviously know our other selves.” Cheryl said.

“I’m thinking this was a bad idea,” Betty said.

They all nod in agreement. 

“Shit” 

They turned to see it was Toni coming from the back “What are you doing in here?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” Jughead said. “We got left in the Van and we wanted to see what this place was.” he adds. 

Toni sighed.

The two women who had spoken earlier came over“Toni. What's going on?” The one with short black hair asked.

“Midge! Can I please explain everything later?” Toni asked, she was a little overwhelmed right now, how do you explain this when you don’t even know what is going on yourself. 

“No!!! I don’t understand, who are they? ” Midge yelled.

“Lets go!” Jughead said.

“Toni..... What the fuck” midge said again. “You know what’s going on.” she yelled, Jughead was pretty sure you could hear this woman in the next town over, that’s how loud she was.

Toni was stuck, she had to say something, she knew they wouldn’t leave it be. “I have no fucking clue on what’s going on. I’m trying to figure that out. I’m not sure why they walked in here when they were supposed to stay where they were.” She said, looking at them.

The five of them turn and walk outside the diner. 

The women are still talking. 

“So That was awkward,” Cheryl said.

“Yup.” Jughead said.

“What now?” Betty asked.

“Stay by the Van until someone comes and gets us.” He said. “We don’t need any more of those incidents” he adds.

They started to walk back when Toni came outside. “You should have stayed put.” She sighed. “Everything is so much more complicated now.” she said. 

They all shrugged their shoulders.

Toni smiled. “I can’t blame you....Come on.....We are going to the Southside. Pea will be waiting for you,” she said.

“That’s the other guy, right?” Jughead asked.

“Yeah.” Toni said.

Kevin and Fangs come back and Toni glares at them. 

“What?” Kevin asked.

“Midge saw them,” she said as she crossed her arms.

“Oh shit. How?” He asked.

“Umm. Let’s see.” she said, “They just walked right into the diner, dumbaas. What made you think it was a good idea to leave them alone.” She said.

“Shit sorry. We were just getting them some things from C-mart” Kevin said.

“It’s fine. It’s out now, It’s just I don't know how to explain who they are” she sighed.

“We’re not who you think we are,” Jughead said .

Toni looked at him “Huh?... what’s that mean?” She asked.

“It means, we are not your friends. We were created from a piece of them.” Jughead said.

“I’m still not following,” she said.

Jughead sighed. 

“That crazy ass doctor, who works at that place we will not name, cloned us” Cheryl said, nonchalantly.

“Oh...umm.... hmm” Toni said unsure what to say to that. “Let’s Umm, Just go meet up with Pea and we will discuss this later” she said.

The 5 of them got back into the van. Huddled together, just like they were. Jughead and Betty, Archie and Veronica, and Cheryl sit’s between them, having no idea where they are going and trusting the only people they know. 

Uncertainty is the most stressful feeling. Should they be stressed? Why yes! They have no idea who they are and what they’re doing. Maybe they should have stayed at Sunset Meadows. 

There’s a lot of maybes and the what nots going on in each of their heads. 

Kevin opens the window to the back.“We are almost there,” he said.

“Where's there?” Jughead asked.

“The Whyt Wyrm” Kevin replied.

“Serpents,” Jughead said.

“That’s right!” Kevin exclaimed.

“Are you one?” Jughead asked.

“No, I’m just dating one,” he smirked.

"Oh," Jughead said, as Kevin closed the window. Jughead looks down at the sleeping angel. He whispers to her who’s in his lap. “Wake up. We are almost there” he said.

Betty sits up and yawns. 

Jughead knocks back on the window and Kevin immediately opens it. “Hey Kevin” he asked.

“What’s up?” Kevin asked. 

“Is there food where we are going?” Jughead smirked. “We are starved.” He adds.

“For sure. Toni’s behind us with pizza” he said.

“Oh my gosh... Pizza sounds so delish” Cheryl said. She then had an odd look come across her face. “I’m not sure I’ve ever had pizza,” she adds as she shrugs her shoulders.

They all frowned. It’s a memory that’s not real. A few minutes later they stopped. Then the doors open to the van. 

“We are here” Kevin said, as he smiled. 

They all get out and look around. This place has seen better days. Toni then comes around with pizza boxes and hands them to Kevin and Fangs. She then looks at them. 

“People are going to stare. Just ignore them.” She said looking at each and every one of them. 

“What is this place?” Veronica asked.

“It’s a bar,” Toni said laughing, as if they should already know this.

“Oh, is it clean” Veronica asked.

Toni laughed. “Probably not.” She grinned.

Veronica crinkles her nose. 

“This place seems so familiar” Betty said finally speaking.

“Same” Jughead adds.

Toni smiles as she walks in the door. They follow her. She then stops and whistles. “Yo. Serpents.” She yelled. The ones that are in the bar turn and look at her. “You're going to see some shit that can’t be explained right now. Ignore it. Or I’ll kick your ass” she yelled.

She walked father in and again the others followed. Then the serpents saw them. 

“Holy fuck!” a man said.

“I said ignore it Turbo” Toni yelled.

“How can you ignore that? Does FP know?” he yelled.

She then signaled to Fangs who immediately walked over to Turbo and started talking to him. Turbo then glares at Toni and turns and walks away.

“They’re talking about me, aren’t they?” Jughead asked, but it wasn't really a question.

“Yeah. They are. This is your family Jug. You were born into the serpents.” She said “Follow me... I’ll tell you guys more once we get settled in.” She said as she started walking, she took them up a staircase and down the hall to the door that’s at the end. She opens it up and it’s a little living area. “You guys will be staying here until we figure things out. I know it’s not a lot of room but it’s all we have right now. There’s a queen bed back there. A pull out sofa over there and an air mattress in the closet.” Toni said.

Jughead looks around at the others. “That’s fine, we will make do,” he said as they all sat down and began to eat. 

“This is so delicious,” Betty said.

They nod in agreement as they devour the pizzas. 

Toni frowned “Did they not feed you?” she asked.

“They did. It wasn’t very good food.” Cheryl said.

“They had me on a very strict diet.” Jughead said, as he kept on eating, it's like he hasn’t eaten before.

“Why’s that?” Toni asked.

“Because they said I was Bulimic” he frowned.

“Hmm. That’s interesting.” She said. “is that what they told you where in for.” she adds.

“Well that and insomnia,” he said.

“That sounds better,” she said. He got confused by her reply. “What about you guys?” she asked.

“Um, self harm.” Betty said.

“Drug addiction.” Archie said.

“Sex addict.” Veronica said.

“I was violent and I tried to hurt people.” Cheryl said.

“Hmm. I see.” Toni said. 

“What are you thinking?” Asked Jughead.

“Well, you did have trouble sleeping, but that’s about it. Betty, you used to dig your nails in your palms, nothing else. Veronica and Archie, yeah. I don’t know about that. Neither of you had anything resembling what you said and Cheryl.” She laughed at the last part. “You did try to kill your mother several times,” she adds.

“Oh” Cheryl frowned. 

“What is that place doing there?” Toni said as she shook her head.

“I told you, we are cloned,” Cheryl said “but you won’t believe us.” she adds.

Toni again ignores it “So more questions with no real answers” she sighed.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. She doesn’t like to be ignored but she will let it go for now. 

“Tell us more about your friends” Archie asked.

“Friends?” She asked, confused.

“Our other selves” he said.

“Oh” she said and before she was able to add more to the sentence she was speaking. Betty started to yell. 

“Oh my god. You kissed Juggie before....Why... why would you do that if we were together and have been together for awhile” Betty yelled as she went over and sat by Jughead. 

“Oh....umm” she’s not really sure how to respond. That happened so long ago and she never thought it would be brought up again. 

“We got all night. Start talking” Betty said as she glared at Toni.

tbc


End file.
